Class BX 6^3 

Book_J^&5S6 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



REV. WARREN C. BLACK, D.D. 



God's Estimate of Man 



AND OTHER SERMONS 

TOGETHER WITH 

An Autobiographical Sketch 



BY THE LATE 

REV. W. C. BLACK, D.D. 

Of the Mississippi Conference 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

REV. H. M. DU BOSE, D.D. 



PUBLISHED BY HIS SON, REV. M. M. BLACK 



NASHVILLE , TENN. 
PALLAS, TEX.; RICHMOND, VA. ' 
PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH 
SMITH & LAMAR, AGENTS 
1915 



Copyright, 1915 

BY 

McKendree M. Black 



JAN 24 lyjB 




CI.A420473 



GOD'S ESTIMATE OF MAN 
AND OTHER SERMONS 



PREFACE. 

This book contains a few of the sermons preached 
during my active ministry. I pray that the Holy 
Spirit may use them on the printed page as He did 
in their delivery. W. C. Black, 

[Written at Tupelo, Miss., in 1912.] 

(5) 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction . 9 

I. Autobiographical Sketch 13 

II. God's Estimate of Man 28 

III. Happiness Conditioned upon Character 45 

IV. Knocking at the Door 66 

V. Nehemiah, the Devout Patriot 88 

VI. Angels Adoring Christ 107 

VII. Seeking the Lost 136 

VIII. Latent Potencies of Human Nature 154 

IX. Loyalty to Truth 168 

X. Bible Temperance 181 

Appendix 201 

(7) 



INTRODUCTION. 

The sermon is an ancient form of literature. It 
was the very earliest vehicle of Christian thought 
and teaching-. With parable and dialogue it shared 
in the Master's methods of making known to men 
the gospel of the kingdom. It is almost certain 
that the Sermon on the Mount and the sermon of 
St. Peter at Pentecost were the portions of the New 
Testament first written out. This original impor- 
tance of the sermon as an institution of Christianity 
has been maintained. The preacher's discourse has 
supplanted nearly all the functions of the old temple 
ritual; and in Protestantism, with prayer and song, 
it has become the chosen means of -worship and 
evangelization. It is the persistence and fulfillment 
of the forms and tokens of ancient prophecy. 

Like sacred verse, the printed sermon must be 
marked by literary individuality and must carry un- 
usual spiritual force if it is to command extensive 
and profitable reading. That the sermons contained 
in this volume embody these ideals to a degree 
which will become a challenge is the confident belief 

(9) 



10 



INTRODUCTION. 



of those who heard the author deliver them in 
the days of his active life and ministry. They are, 
indeed, in some true sense an autobiography, an 
epitome of the thought and faith life of the man 
who preached them. Happy for every preacher if 
he remembered always that the work done by him 
in the pulpit is to be the main determinative in what- 
ever influence of his ministry is to survive after its 
human close. The true sermon is the incarnation of 
given hours or days of a life of passion, vision, and 
discernment, which has become as "the voice of one 
crying." No character of self-expression, or minis- 
try whatsoever out of self, so draws virtue from soul 
and fiber as does the ministry of preaching the true 
evangel. The sermons of Chrysostom, Savonarola, 
St. Remy, and Whitefield were to them literally a 
kenosis. Their physical substances, as well as their 
minds and souls, flowed forth in the tremendous 
currents which brimmed their sermons with the vi- 
tality of the unseen. With some of them it meant 
a bodily depletion and stress which at times became 
little less than self-immolation, a literal "filling up 
7 of the measure of the sufferings of Christ." 

The sermons of this volume will be found to an- 



INTRODUCTION. 



II 



swer to the older, rather than the newer, models. 
Their utility is all the greater for this. The tone of 
their theology is silver-clear. They are, for the 
most part, an echo from the times when the pulpit 
of the South had suffered but slightly from the in- 
vasion of latitudinarian ideas; yet some of them 
are answers to controversial and liberal tendencies 
which were noted and studied by the preacher in his 
later ministry. Several of these discourses had a 
wide range of pulpit delivery, and their titles were 
at one time as household words in a large section of 
the Methodist family. They will now be available 
to the younger ministry, to whom they will become 
valuable as models of frankness, faithfulness, and 
earnestness in pulpit utterance. They will not less 
stand as incentives and precedents to this younger 
brotherhood, who will by them be reminded how the 
author, through grace and diligence, mastered diffi- 
culties, conquered circumstances, and made himself 
a heard voice in the times of his generation. They 
are also of such substance and expression as will 
make them acceptable for the use and meditation of 
the older ministry and, as we believe, available in 
the Christian home of every rank. To his brethren 



INTRODUCTION. 



who fought beside him in the days of his militant 
ministry and who shared with him the experiences 
of his earthly march, these discourses of a comrade 
will be as memory itself sounding the notes of an 
unresting advance. H. M. Du Bose. 

Atlanta, Ga., August 20, 1915. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

I was born in Copiah County, Miss., May 24, 
1843. My father, William Black, was a native of 
Georgia and was of Irish descent. 

My mother, Eliza McRee, was a native of South 
Carolina and was of Scotch descent. Her father, 
William McRee, emigrated to Mississippi during the 
early part of the decade between 1820 and 1830 and 
settled in Copiah County, in what was afterwards 
known as the "Bethesda neighborhood''— so called 
on account of the Methodist church of that name 
which came into existence at an early date. 

My father came to Mississippi during the same 
decade and located in the same neighborhood. He 
and my mother were married soon afterwards. My 
father began life poor, but both he and my mother 
were industrious and frugal and thus became pros- 
perous. At the time of his death, in i860, he owned 
nearly three thousand acres of land and a number 
of slaves, one tract of about thirteen hundred acres 

(13) 



14 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



being located on Pearl River, east of Crystal Springs. 
[See Appendix A.] 

My mother had ten children, three of whom died 
in infancy. The others all reached mature life. 
[See Appendix B.] 

I was studious and usually stood at the head of 
my classes. I was fond of reading, that taste being 
stimulated by my mother. But books and periodicals 
adapted to the juvenile mind were then exceedingly 
scarce in that section, and so the range of my read- 
ing was not very extensive. I grew up with the 
habit of attending church every Sabbath. My moth- 
er was an ardent Methodist and a thoroughly devout 
and consistent Christian, one of the very best wom- 
en I have ever known. Her example, training, and 
influence were the most potent factors in the for- 
mation of my character. She died in 1888. I ac- 
cepted Christ and united with the Church when I 
was about thirteen years of age. 

In 1 86 1 I was a pupil of Centenary College, Jack- 
son, La. The breaking out of the Civil War having 
closed the college before the end of the session, I 
taught a summer school at Bethesda. In September 
I enlisted in the 1 -"Confederate army as - a private in 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 1 5 

the Seven Stars Artillery. With the rest of my 
command, I was captured at Port Hudson July 8, 
1863. When our company reentered the service, 
the Confederate government was unable to furnish 
artillery, and for this reason the artillery company 
was organized into a battalion of cavalry called at 
first Roberts's Battalion, afterwards the Twenty- 
Fourth Mississippi Battalion of Cavalry. Of one of 
these companies (Company C) I was elected first 
lieutenant, which position I filled until the close of 
the war. The captain of the company was John 
Wilkinson, who after the close of the war became 
a remarkably gifted and much-beloved preacher of 
the Louisiana Conference. Our second lieutenant 
was David Ingram Purser, who a few years later 
was widely known as an able minister of the Baptist 
Church. Having no chaplain, we three, with other 
kindred spirits, kept up religious services whenever 
it was practicable to do so, not only on the Sabbath, 
but during the week. There were times when serv- 
ices were held every night. Each of this trio com- 
mitted his first attempt in the direction of ministerial 
work under these conditions, though Wilkinson and 
Purser did not become licentiates until after the war. 



1 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

I was licensed to preach in 1864 by the Quarterly 
Conference of the Georgetown Circuit, William Finn 
pastor, being at the time on a short furlough. These 
nightly services on the "tented field" at times became 
decidedly evangelistic and were honored of God in 
the accomplishment of lasting results in the lives of 
men. 

I was married during the closing days of the war 
—March 24, 1865— to Miss Phcebe Marshall, of 
Spring Ridge, Hinds County, Miss. Soon after- 
wards I commenced to teach at Bethesda and con- 
tinued to do so until December, 1869. During 1870 
and 1 87 1 I was at the head of the mercantile firm 
of W. C. Black & Company, Bolton, Miss., my 
brother, James Monroe Black, being a member of 
the firm. During the latter of these years I served 
Raymond Circuit (Raymond, Bolton, and Clinton) 
as a supply. 

In December, 1871, I joined the Mississippi Con- 
ference in the same class with J. J. Smylie and H. 
Walter Featherstun. During, the next twenty years 
I served the following charges : Madison, Camden, 
Edwards, Jefferson Street ( Natchez) , Central Church 
(Meridian), and First Church (Jackson). Jn 1895, 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



without any seeking of my own, I was transferred 
to the South Georgia Conference and stationed at 
Mulberry Street Church, Macon. In October of 
that year I was elected editor and publisher of the 
New Orleans Christian Advocate, which position I 
filled for seven years. For the next few years my 
appointments were: First Church (Jackson), Moss 
Point, Jefferson Street (Natchez), Brookhaven, 
Court Street (Hattiesburg). In 1907, at the urgent 
solicitation of Bishop Ward, I served Tupelo, in the 
North Mississippi Conference, to fill a vacancy 
caused by the resignation of Rev. T. W. Lewis, who 
had accepted an agency for Millsaps College. At 
the close of the year I was transferred back to the 
Mississippi Conference. My subsequent appoint- 
ments were : Meridian District, East End (Meridian), 
and Edwards. At the latter place my health, which 
had been failing for some time, broke down com- 
pletely, and it became necessary for me to retire 
from active service. I then removed to Tupelo, 
where I had many warm friends and where I resided 
for three years. 

In 1879 I delivered an address on "The Philoso- 
phy of Methodism" at the Crystal Springs Camp 

2 



i8 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



Meeting, which produced such a pronounced impres- 
sion on the large audience present that I was re- 
quested to publish it in pamphlet form, which I did. 
With very little advertising, four thousand copies 
were sold in a short time. An address delivered at 
Natchez, entitled "A Centennial Retrospect," was 
also published by request. In 1886 I published a 
pamphlet with the title 'Temperance and Teetotal- 
ism," of which five thousand copies were quickly 
sold. In 1889 I published "Christian Womanhood," 
a 12-mo book of three hundred pages, of which near- 
ly six thousand copies were sold. 

For a number of years I lectured extensively. 
One lecture, "Genesis and Geology," was delivered 
in eight different States. Another lecture, entitled 
"God in Nature," was still more widely known. A 
discourse entitled "Is Man Immortal?" given some- 
times as a lecture and sometimes as a sermon, has 
been delivered about one hundred and forty times 
and in nine different States, from New York to 
Texas. This discourse was delivered by request 
before two different sessions of the Mississippi Leg- 
islature and also before the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1890. The two lectures last named were 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



19 



published in book form in 1903, with an introduction 
by Bishop Charles B. Galloway. Three editions 
were called for. 

I was for several years quite active in the tem- 
perance cause. Besides doing a prodigious amount 
of work in Meridian and Lauderdale County during 
the famous local option campaign of 1886, I made 
temperance speeches during the same year in thirteen 
counties of the State. 

In 1886 I received the title of D.D. from South- 
ern University, Greensboro, Ala. During the same 
year I was offered the presidency of Whitworth 
College, Brookhaven, Miss., and of Centenary Col- 
lege, Jackson, La., both of which I declined because 
of a preference for the pastorate. 

I was always a student. During the time when 
I was teaching I toiled most arduously to make up 
for my lack of collegiate training. After I joined 
the Conference I worked in my library to the limit 
of my capacity and often transcended the boundaries 
of prudence, thereby impairing my health. I marked 
out a course of reading and compassed it. I read 
no trash. I felt that I had no time for fiction. My 
reading was chiefly within the domain of theology, 



20 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



science, history, psychology, and metaphysics. Dur- 
ing the first years of my itinerant life I did much 
less pastoral visiting than I did in later years. I 
felt that my main business was to preach and that 
I needed nearly all of my time to acquire the neces- 
sary equipment. After a while I learned by experi- 
ence that it is not wise to spend more than five or 
six hours a day in severe brain work, and I gave 
much time to pastoral visiting. 

As a pastor I made it a rule to visit the poor, the 
humble, and the obscure much more than those in 
the higher walks of life. I was especially diligent 
in looking up newcomers and bringing them into 
fellowship with the Church. I sought to be tactful 
in administration. Serving, as I did in several in- 
stances, Churches in which there were warring fac- 
tions, I steered clear of partisanism and kept on 
good terms with both sides. 

I was successful in adding members to the Church. 
During the four years of my pastorate at Central 
Church, Meridian, four hundred and sixty-two 
names were added to the roll. During my two terms 
(seven years) in First Church, Jackson, six hundred 
and sixtv-nine members were received. More than 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



21 



half the persons who composed the membership at 
the close of the second term, December, 1902, had 
been received during my pastorate. I was success- 
ful everywhere. 

I was the originator of Wesley Chapel, Natchez, 
now called Pearl Street. During my first year at 
Jefferson Street I became convinced that, in order 
fully to utilize our forces and do the work which 
the Church ought to do, it was necessary for us to 
build an additional house of worship. The recently 
erected cotton mills had brought about a consider- 
able increase of population in that part of the city, 
and many of these newcomers were Methodists. 
Not a few of these I induced to get their Church cer- 
tificates and have their names placed upon our roll; 
but there were those whom I could not induce to at- 
tend our services. Hence I resolved to secure the 
erection of another house of worship, if it were pos- 
sible to do so. The project at first met with strong 
opposition. Many of our members reasoned thus; 
"We have a building large enough to hold many 
more persons than usually attend our services. 
Moreover, our church is not yet completed, and it 
requires a constant struggle to pay current expenses 



22 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



and at the same time make needed improvements in 
our house of worship. Under these circumstances, 
to undertake the building of another house of wor- 
ship seems utterly Utopian." 

I did not become discouraged, however, but con- 
tinued to agitate the matter. On the third of Octo- 
ber of that year (1881) I induced the Quarterly 
Conference to appoint a committee with authority to 
raise funds, purchase a lot, and erect a building. A 
lot was soon secured, and a Sunday school was or- 
ganized and put into operation in a school building 
in the vicinity. In December, 1882, Rev. Thomas 
L. Mellen, who had been licensed to preach by the 
Jefferson Street Quarterly Conference a short time 
before, was appointed to take charge of this mission 
work. Within a few months he succeeded in erect- 
ing a suitable building. 

When I began my pastorate in Meridian, in Janu- 
ary, 1885, the Methodists were using a plain wood- 
en structure which was poorly adapted to the needs 
of the Church. I began at once to agitate the ques- 
tion of erecting a new church. There were obstacles 
in the way that seemed unsurmountable, but these 
were overcome. In June the old church was re- 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



moved to the western part of the city and was 
known for a number of years as West End Church. 
It is now called Fifth Street Church. Of this Rob- 
ert Selby was pastor the next year, 1886. 

The old building* having been removed, the build- 
ing known for many years as Central Church was 
erected on the same spot. Commencing in June, we 
completed the basement in time to hold services 
therein before the end of the year. The Mississippi 
Conference met there in December, 1885, Bishop 
McTyeire presiding. [Central Church was de- 
stroyed by fire in November, 1913.] 

In the latter part of 1903, while pastor of First 
Church, Jackson, I saw that there was need of an 
additional church in the southern part of the city, 
then called Duttoville, and began to agitate the ques- 
tion of building one. A lot was donated by Maj. 
R. W. Millsaps. I did personally nearly all the 
work of raising and expending the necessary funds 
and also superintended the construction of the build- 
ing. The house was completed and in use within 
five weeks from the time the first subscription was 
taken. A Church was organized and at once took its 



24 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

place among' the appointments of the Mississippi 
Conference, designated as Rankin Street Church. 

I was a member of five General Conferences — 
from 1886 to 1906, inclusive. I made it a rule never 
to be absent from my place on the Conference floor 
or in the committee room. 

When I took charge of the New Orleans Christian 
Advocate, the paper was overwhelmed with debt. I 
was chosen to the double position of editor and pub- 
lisher with the belief that I would liquidate the in- 
debtedness and put the paper on a paying basis. I 
did do so, but at a fearful cost to myself physically. 
For some years I did the work that previously had 
been done by two* men and a lady employee. A great 
deal of the time I was on the verge of a nervous 
breakdown. Under these conditions, it was impos- 
sible for me to do as large an amount of editorial 
writing as I wished to do. Fortunately for me, my 
son, Rev. McKendree Marvin Black, came to my 
rescue with his facile pen and for several years did 
a large amount of valuable work. I did my editorial 
work with conscientious care, striving always to* fill 
my columns with something that would be morally 
and spiritually helpful to my readers. I sought to 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 25 

make a first-class family paper, and to that end I 
gave much time to the uncongenial work of ran- 
sacking carefully a long list of exchanges in search 
of suitable clippings. 

During the last year of my editorship I lived in 
Jackson, Miss., and filled the pastorate of First 
Church. I was able to do this because of the fact 
that my son, McKendree M. Black, was in the office 
in New Orleans in the capacity of assistant editor. 
As publisher I had to undergo a great deal of unjust 
criticism for running premium offers of sewing ma- 
chines and other household necessities. Such meas- 
ures, which I adopted to increase the circulation of 
the paper, were condemned as if they had their 
roots in moral obliquity. It was claimed that I was 
using space for these offers which should be used for 
reading matter, when, as a matter of fact, I was 
using considerably less space for advertising pur- 
poses than I was entitled to under my contract. 

I was faithful to my trust in every particular and 
left the paper in good financial condition; and the 
publishing committee so stated in an emphatic way 
and commended me heartily for my diligence, fidel- 
ity, and success. 



26 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



I quit lecturing* several years ago, at a time when 
I was receiving (as I had been for several years) 
more invitations than I could accept with the time 
at my command. I quit simply because I found 
that this work, superadded to my regular work, was 
in excess of my physical capacity. I quit in order 
to prolong my life, or at least to prolong the period 
of my ministerial activity. 

I was a member of the Board of Trustees of Mill- 
saps College from the beginning until December, 
191 1, after my superannuation. I was always reg- 
ular and prompt in attending the meetings of the 
Board and rendered the best service of which I was 
capable. 

My work on the rostrum was entirely compatible 
with my position as a minister of the gospel. My 
lectures, though scientific, were spiritual in tone. 

Eight children came into my home. Two of them, 
Otey Raiford and Ernest Montgomery, died in in- 
fancy. Eva Eunice died at twelve years of age in 
Natchez. Cora Estelle died in Meridian at the age 
of fourteen. 

My wife passed to her reward on high January 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



27 



10, 1909. Her life had been devoted to the service 
of God, her family, and the Church. " 

I have four children living — McKendree Marvin, 
Warren Featherstun, Clara Augusta (Mrs. Turner), 
and Leila Ada. 

[Note. — The author of this volume passed to his reward on 
high at his home, in Meridian, Miss., on January 4, 1915, 
shortly before midnight; and on January 5 his body was ten- 
derly laid to rest in Rose Hill Cemetery, there to await the 
resurrection morn. "He being dead, yet speaketh."] 



II. 

god's estimate of man. 

"So God created man in his own image." (Gen. i. 27.) 

All religious truth crystallizes about two points : 
a conception of the nature of God and a conception 
of the nature of man. By its teachings concerning 
both these, Christianity evinces its infinite superiority 
over all other forms of religion. Both its conception 
of the nature of God and its conception of the nature 
of man are immeasurably more exalted than can be 
found elsewhere in the world's literature. We have 
here in very small compass the Scriptural conception 
of the nature of man; he is made in the image of 
God. 

In order to get the full significance of this pas- 
sage, we should consider it in its historic setting. It 
forms a part of the Mosaic account of the creation. 
The phraseology here used is strikingly unique. 
Concerning the beasts of the forest, the birds of the 
air, the reptiles of the jungle, the fishes of the sea, 
and all other forms of terrestrial life, it is simply 

(28) 



god's estimate of man. 



29 



said: "God saw that it was good." Of man only is 
it said that he is "made in the image of God." 

To what part of man's complex nature does this 
statement apply ? A very little reflection will suffice 
to show that it does not apply to his physical nature. 
God is a pure Spirit without body or parts. This 
being the case, it is impossible that there can be any 
likeness between God and man's physical organism. 
Of course there are passages of Scripture in which 
God is spoken of as having a body or bodily parts 
or organs; but all such passages are unmistakably 
figurative. For instance, God is spoken of as hav- 
ing eyes, but no sane man understands this to mean 
that he has such visual organs as we possess ; for, if 
so, then God, like ourselves, must have light in order 
that he may exercise his powers of vision at all, 
whereas the teaching of the Scripture is that "the 
darkness and the light are both alike" to God. 
When God is spoken of as having eyes, that is only 
a figurative way of expressing the idea that God 
sees, that he knows. And so the great Scriptural 
truth of divine omniscience is taught in this way 
more forcibly than it can be in any other way. 

So when God is spoken of as having hands, that 



30 god's estimate of max. 

is only a poetic way of expressing the idea of divine 
power in active exercise. And so of all other pas- 
sages in which God is spoken of as having a body 
or bodily parts or organs. All such passages are 
unquestionably figurative. I repeat that, as God is 
a pure Spirit without body or parts, it is impossible 
that there can be any likeness between God and 
man's physical organism. 

So, then, the statement that man is made in the 
image of God applies, not to his physical nature, but 
to that invisible, intangible, immaterial something 
within this physical organism that thinks and feels 
and wills, that something which we call the mind or 
heart or soul. 

I. In the first place, this statement applies to the 
purely intellectual part of man's nature. Let me 
elucidate this. Xo being can comprehend the plans 
and purposes of another being unless there is a sim- 
ilarity in the mental make-up of the two, Xo brute 
can comprehend the plans and purposes of the hu- 
man mind. The best-trained animal to be found in- 
all earth's menageries can never be taught to com- 
prehend the mechanism of a watch, a steam engine, 
or a telegraph instrument, nor the purpose of its ex- 



god's estimate of man. 31 

istence. Why not ? Simply because the brute mind 
and the human mind are not cast in the same mold. 
The human mind is endowed with intellect, while 
the brute mind has only instinct; and there is a 
world-wide difference between the two. 

Equally impossible would it be for man to com- 
prehend the plans and purposes of God, if it were 
not true that the human mind and the divine mind 
are cast in the same mold. 

But man does in a large measure comprehend the 
plans and purposes of God. Do you ask for proofs 
of this? They lie around you as thick as the leaves 
of autumn. Every science is a proof of man's abil- 
ity to comprehend the plans of God. Take the sci- 
ence of astronomy as an example. The most mar- 
velous achievements of the human mind He within 
the domain of astronomy. Xow, in these marvelous 
achievements what has man done? Has he created 
or originated anything? Nay. His work has been 
solely that of discovery, He has ascertained a vast 
multitude of facts concerning the heavenly bodies, 
their relations to one another, and the multitudinous 
interactions growing out of those relations, and also- 
concerning the forces and laws that govern them in 



32 



god's estimate of man. 



their everlasting flight. In other words, he has 
comprehended the architectural plan according to 
which God has constructed the stellar universe. So 
when we study astronomy we are, to use the lan- 
guage of the immortal Kepler, simply "rethinking 
the thoughts of God" and thus holding communion 
with the Infinite Mind that planned the universe. 

What is true of astronomy is true of all the sci- 
ences. Every science is simply man's comprehension 
of the facts, forces, and laws pertaining to one par- 
ticular department of the universe. I repeat that 
every science is a demonstration of the fact that man 
is made in the image of God. 

This differentiates man immeasurably from all 
other forms of terrestrial life. Ransack the menag- 
eries of the world, select the most intelligent and 
frest-trained animal to be found therein, and try to 
teach it to comprehend the science of astronomy. 
Would you succeed? If that animal could be kept 
in existence for millions of ages and could have a 
competent instructor all the while, it would make no 
progress whatever toward comprehending even the 
fundamentals of this science. Why ? Simply because 
the brute mind is not made in the image of God. 



god's estimate of man. 



33 



2. The statement that man is made in the image 
of God applies also to his moral nature. I refer 
specifically to that part of his nature which we call 
conscience. By conscience I mean that faculty by 
which we make moral discriminations and exercise 
moral emotions — the faculty by which we perceive 
the difference between right and wrong, by which 
we approve the right and condemn the wrong. 

That man universally possesses this faculty is 
demonstrated by the fact that every language con- 
tains words corresponding to our words "right" and 
"wrong." Just here a vast chasm intervenes between 
man and all other forms of terrestrial life. No 
brute possesses moral faculties even in a rudimenta- 
ry form. True, we sometimes speak of our domes- 
tic pets as if they had a moral nature, but in so doing 
we are using language loosely. No scientist speak- 
ing scientifically will assert that any brute has a 
moral nature. Suppose a man calling himself a 
scientist should arise before this intelligent audience 
and argue that the Christian people of this city 
ought to gather together all the dogs, cats, horses, 
and cows of the city and organize them into church- 
es and Sunday schools, in order to give -them the 
3 



34 



god's estimate of man. 



same sort of moral and religious training which we 
give to our children. Would he not be set down as 
a lunatic? Common sense teaches that these crea- 
tures are by nature utterly incapacitated to receive 
that sort of training; or, in other words, that they 
have no moral nature. 

In the fact that he possesses these moral powers 
man evinces his kinship with God ; for no sane man 
will deny that God is a moral Being, that he discrim- 
inates between right and wrong, that he loves the 
right and hates the wrong. To do so would be to 
undeify him, to transform him into a celestial mon- 
ster, an omnipotent irresponsible, unworthy the hom- 
age of any rational creature. 

Thus we see that man is made in the image of 
God, not only in the intellectual part of his being, 
but also in that far higher department which we call 
his moral nature. 

3. Man also evinces his kinship with God in the 
fact that he possesses a capacity for philanthropy or 
disinterested benevolence. I use the word "philan- 
thropy" in preference to the simpler word "love" for 
the reason that if I could use the word love in this 
Connection it might be' said that brutes possess this 



god's estimate of man. 



35 



power as well as man, which is true. The mother 
bird will imperil her own existence in defense of the 
helpless young in her nest; and so will the savage, 
untameable tiger. Love of this type belongs to the 
brute creation no less than to man. Parental love is 
simply instinct, a blind impulse implanted in the 
maternal breast for a wise and beneficent purpose. 
The mother, both brute and human, loves her infant 
offspring, not because she sees in that offspring any- 
thing worthy of love, and not because she wills to 
do so, but because it is her nature to do so. She 
can no more help loving that helpless little creature 
than she can help being hungry when her stomach 
is empty. 

Philanthropy, however, is under the control of. the 
will. Let me elucidate this. Let us briefly review 
the career of John Howard, the great English phi- 
lanthropist, who spent a quarter of a century and a 
large fortune besides in visiting the prisons of all 
the great nations of the earth in order that he might 
ameliorate the condition of the criminals who were 
therein incarcerated. In doing this benevolent work 
Howard was under no constraint or compulsion. 
He went because he chose to go. He might have 



36 



GOD'S ESTIMATE OF MAN. 



remained at home, as others in his sphere did, and 
spent his time in money-getting or in luxurious ease. 
But, instead of leading a selfish life, he voluntarily 
chose to expend his time, his energies, and his money 
in bettering the condition of the very lowest classes 
of society, the criminals of all nations. 

Now, Howard was not a superhuman being. He 
was only a man with the same innate faculties that 
belong to the rest of the race. All other human 
beings may, if they will, walk in his footsteps. All 
have not his talents nor his fortune. Many do not 
and cannot move in his high sphere. But every one 
may in his own sphere and in his own way exert his 
energies for the betterment of his fellow man. 

There is here a world-wide difference between 
man and all other forms of mundane life. Try to 
imagine a lion going forth upon an expedition of 
mercy to the lambs of the world. Impossible ! 

Now, the possession of this capacity for disinter- 
ested benevolence is a demonstration of the fact that 
man is made in the image of God. What is the best 
definition of God ever given ? Let us consider this. 
Suppose a man of large intellectual endowments 
and great learning should undertake the task of 



god's estimate of man. 



37 



writing a better definition of God than has ever been 
given. In order to equip himself for this mighty 
task, he gathers into his library all the theological 
works that have ever been written and then spends 
many years in a thoughtful study of these books. 
He then very carefully completes his task. When 
he has finished his work, I will produce from the 
Bible in three short words a better definition of God 
than this sage has constructed after years of ardu- 
ous toil. 

Here it is : "God is love." That is the best defi- 
nition of God that was ever given on earth or in 
heaven, or ever can be given. Love is the force that 
inspires and dominates all the activities of God. It 
was love that impelled him to exercise his omnific 
power in the creation of all the worlds that exist, in 
order that they might be the abodes of sentient life, 
and each world has a multitude of beneficent adap- 
tations to the multifarious forms of life that exist 
thereon. 

Again, love dominates God's administration of 
the affairs of the entire moral universe. Whence 
came the incarnation of the Son of God, with all its 
beneficent and far-reaching results? Hear what 



38 



god's estimate of man. 



Jehovah himself says: "God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." So, then, in the fact that he possesses a ca- 
pacity for disinterested benevolence man is unques- 
tionably made in the image of God. 

4. Man is also made in the image of God in 
that he possesses what I call, for want of a bet- 
ter term, a capacity for inspiration. I do not here 
use the word "inspiration" in its ordinary sense, but 
in a far larger sense. By inspiration I do not mean 
that influence which came upon a few holy men in. 
olden times, enabling them to write the books that 
compose the Bible. Neither do I use it in that sense 
in which it signifies that supernatural afflatus which 
came upon certain divinely selected saints in Bible 
times, enabling them to look along down the corri- 
dors of futurity and see "coming events casting their 
shadows before." The sense in which I use the 
term includes all this, but it includes a great deal 
more. By a capacity for inspiration I mean a ca- 
pacity for holding direct, personal, conscious com- 
munion with God. That man possesses this capacity 
is clearly taught in the Word. Paul, the greatest of 



god's estimate of man. 



39 



all earth's theologians, says : ''The Spirit itself bear- 
eth witness with our spirit, that we are heirs of 
God." Away back in the springtime of the world's 
history righteous Enoch had the Spirit-given testi- 
mony that "he pleased God." When David wrote 
that most jubilant of all the Psalms, commencing, 
"Bless the Lord, O my soul : and all that is within 
me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, 
and forget not all his benefits : who f orgiveth all 
thine iniquities," was he in doubt as to his accept- 
ance with God ? Nay ; he had a Spirit-given assur- 
ance of acceptance, and this thrilled his soul with 
joy unspeakable. And this assurance has been the 
privilege of the saints through all ages. 

The possession of this capacity for inspiration 
differentiates man from the brute creation. Suppose 
a man should appear in your midst and talk fluently 
about a great evangelistic movement which he de- 
clares is going on somewhere among the lions, ti- 
gers, elephants, and other animals. He states that 
great numbers of these creatures have been convict- 
ed, regenerated, and sanctified. Would he not be 
pronounced a madman? Most assuredly. These 
theological terms — conviction, conversion, sanctifL 



4Q 



god's estimate of man. 



cation, etc. — are misnomers when applied to any 
process that can take place within the domain of 
brute life. But they are not misnomers when used 
in speaking of processes that take place within the 
realm of man's spiritual nature. 

And this capacity for inspiration belongs not 
merely to a favored few of the race, but to every 
man of woman born. No matter how low and vile 
a man may be, if he will repent and bow before the 
mercy seat in humble, trustful prayer, our Father in 
heaven will not only forgive his sins, but, through 
the Holy Spirit, will impart to him an assurance of 
forgiveness. 

5. Man is also created in the image of God in 
that he possesses the attribute of immortality. 
Just here, perhaps, some one raises the inquiry: 
"May it not be that all animals are immortal?" In 
reply we need only to refer to the teaching of "the 
Book of Books," which repeatedly speaks of these 
creatures as "the brutes that perish." This phrase- 
ology, taken in its connection, unquestionably limits 
their existence to the present life. And this is just 
what we have a right to expect under the adminis- 
tration of an all-wise God. These creatures, as we 



god's estimate of man. 



41 



have seen, have no intellectual powers by which they 
can comprehend the thoughts and plans of God. 
They have no moral nature, no capacity for benevo- 
lence, no capacity for holding communion with God. 
Being destitute of these lofty powers, there is no 
reason why their existence should be perpetuated 
forever. Alan, however, is a being of a vastly su- 
perior order. Made in the image of God, he is able 
to read the thoughts and comprehend the plans and 
purposes of God to an extent that constitutes the 
moral capacities that are Godlike. He has a ca- 
pacity for holding direct spiritual communion with 
God. When we take a survey of man's capaci- 
ties, we begin to catch a glimpse of the philosophy 
of the incarnation. God sent his Son into the world 
to redeem — what? The brute creation? Nay; it 
is not worth redeeming. But to redeem man, be- 
cause he is worth redeeming. To rescue such a be- 
ing from the debasing thralldom of sin and start 
him upon a career of endless progression Godward 
is an achievement that is worthy of the all-wise 
Creator and righteous and loving Ruler of the uni- 
verse. 

Thus we have here in the opening chapter of the 



42 



god's estimate of man. 



Bible God's estimate of man. This ought to be 
man's estimate of himself. But is it? The saddest 
spectacle within the range of human vision is not 
the cemetery, with its constantly recurring funeral 
processions, but a multitude of beings made in the 
image of God, who live as if they belonged in the 
same category with the brutes. 

What is the keynote of the brute life? Present 
enjoyment. The butterfly, flitting from flower to 
flower, sipping the sweets as she goes, with no high- 
er aim, is a type of the whole brute creation. And 
there are vast multitudes of human beings who by 
their actions place themselves in the same category. 
Their chief aim in life is simply to "have a good 
time." They have no loft}' moral purpose, no as- 
piration to glorify God and uplift humanity. What 
a degradation of human nature! 

The true keynote of human life is not enjoyment, 
but service — grateful service to Almighty God, lov- 
ing, helpful service to our fellow creatures. 

My hearers, ought not this glorious revelation 
concerning the diprtitv of human nature to have an 
inspirational, uplifting, transforming effect upon 
our daily lives? 



god's estimate of man. 



43 



Are we made in the image of God in the intellec- 
tual part of our being? If so, then, like the immor- 
tal Gladstone, we ought to strive to grow intellec- 
tually until the very end of life. 

Are we made in the image of God morally? If 
so, then we ought never to allow mammon, pleasure, 
nor any other sordid, earth-born thing to dominate 
our activities; but we ought to enthrone conscience 
as the rightful queen of the soul's faculties and 
render implicit obedience to all her mandates, thus 
growing continually more and more Godlike. 

Have we a Godlike capacity for benevolence? I£ 
so, then we owe it to ourselves, as well as to Al- 
mighty God, to exercise that power, to do what our 
hands find to do for the moral betterment of our 
fellow men. 

Have we a capacity for holding sweet communion 
with our Father in heaven? If so, then we are act- 
ing the part of madness when we close our ears 
to his loving voice as he speaks to us concerning our 
eternal interests. We ought always to keep our 
souls in tune with the Infinite, ever responsive to the 
faintest whispers of the "still small voice." 

Are we destined to live as long as God himself 



44 



god's estimate of man. 



shall live? If so, then what amazing folly are we 
guilty of when we act as 

If all our hopes and all our fears 
Were prisoned in life's narrow bounds; 

If, travelers through this vale of tears, 
We saw no better world beyond ! 

Our hearts ought to be fired with the high and 
holy ambition to become every day better and better 
fitted for the employments and associations of that 
transcendently glorious life that lies beyond the 
grave and stretches out into the unending ages of 
eternity. 



IIL 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

"Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God." 
(Matt. v. 8.) 

"Blessed" in this passage means "happy/' The 
word "see" is here used, not in the sense of physi- 
cal vision, but in that of intellectual perception. So, 
then, the affirmation here made is that ability to 
know God and be made happy by that knowledge 
is conditioned upon heart purity. This doctrine has 
been vigorously controverted. There are those who 
assert that heart purity has absolutely nothing to do 
with one's ability to know God; that a man of large 
intellectual endowment may compass the entire 
range of theological truth and receive whatever en- 
joyment it affords, whatever may be his moral char- 
acter. Such a claim will not bear the light of 
thoughtful investigation. 

As a foundation for the line of thought which I 
shall present, I announce this as a proposition that 
cannot be successfully controverted : Character con- 

(45) 



46 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

ciitions perceptivity and also sensibility. In other 
words, a man's thoughts and emotions are, to a large 
extent, determined by his character. 

Let me elucidate this. Take two men from the 
very extremes of society and bring them into contact 
with the same objects. Will their thoughts and feel- 
ings be the same ? Take a man who has large intel- 
lectual endowments and whose powers have been 
strengthened and developed by an extensive and va- 
ried culture, a man who is at home in all the realms 
of literature and science and philosophy. Take such 
a man and associate with him one of the lowest 
specimens of the race — a wild, untutored red man of 
the forest — and start the two out together on an ex- 
tensive journey. Will their thoughts and emotions 
be the same from day to day? 

They turn their eyes upward. To the Indian the 
sun is only a torch a little larger and brighter than 
his own camp fire. To the other man that same sun 
is a world more than a million times larger than the 
earth. To the Indian the stars are only little glim- 
mering lamps hung up in the sky to light him in his 
nocturnal journeyings in search of prey or human 
scalps. To the other man every star is either a 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 4/ 

world like our own or else a sun, the center of a 
magnificent system of worlds. 

They enter a vast forest. The Indian rejoices 
that he is in the midst of a happy hunting ground 
and begins to look around for traces of the bear, 
the deer, and other species of game. The other man 
may think o<f these, but he thinks of much else. To 
him almost even' object in that vast forest speaks 
of one of the arts of civilized life. Those lordly 
oaks only need to.be felled and transported a short 
distance to be utilized in the construction of ships 
that shall plow the waters of all seas and circumnav- 
igate the earth. Those gigantic pines — how much 
they are needed by the architects and artisans of yon 
distant metropolis ! And here are mahoganies and 
other woods which human ingenuity can fashion 
into things of exquisite beauty and marvelous utility. 
And here is a root, and there a bark, and here a 
leaf, and there a flower which belong to earth's 
materia medica and which, if transported to some 
distant center of civilization, might alleviate pain or 
heal disease or perhaps save life. Thus every ob- 
ject in that vast forest is suggestive of some one of 
the multifarious products of human skill, ~ - 



48 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

They stand upon the bank of a large river and 
look out upon its placid waters as they roll silently 
onward toward the sea. The savage thinks only of 
the finny tribes that sport beneath its waves and 
longs for canoe and net, that he may provide him- 
self with a toothsome repast. The other man thinks 
of these, but he has a thousand other thoughts to 
which the savage is an utter stranger. With the 
speed of the lightning's flash his mind wanders 
away to the river's source in a mountain glacier 
thousands of miles away. With reason's eye he sees 
a little sparkling stream as it leaps from ledge to 
ledge in beautiful cascades down the mountain side. 
He watches it as it ripples and murmurs along 
through forest, prairie, and glen, receiving ever and 
anon tributaries of varying size, until it becomes a 
river. He follows it as it rolls majestically on, 
growing continually in volume by taking other riv- 
ers into its bosom, until at last it pours its mighty 
flood into the chambers of the deep. He thinks of 
the vast area drained by this stream and its tribu- 
taries; of the inexhaustible fertility which it has 
imparted to the soil; of the wonderful variety of 
agricultural, horticultural, and floricultural products 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 49 

grown within this princely domain; and of the teem- 
ing millions of population, both brute and human, 
that subsist thereon. He thinks of this stream as an 
artery of commerce, the home of a thousand floating 
argosies, whose office it is to annihilate space, abol- 
ish latitude, and pour upon every man's threshold the 
varied products of field, forest, mine, and factory. 

They enter a telegraph office. To the savage the 
interminable click of the telegraph instrument has 
no more significance than the chirp of a cricket. To 
the other man that endless clatter has a very differ- 
ent significance. It means the expression of thought 
and the annihilation of space. It means that some 
one here is holding communication with another far 
away. It means, perhaps, that some one here in the 
heart of this new world is holding- communication 
with a citizen of England's great metropolis or a 
dweller in the city in which Demosthenes pleaded 
for liberty. And so as those monotonous sounds fall 
upon his ear he thinks of the tens of thousands of 
telegraph lines that interlace each other like net- 
work throughout the civilized world and of the vast 
variety of messages that are daily, hourly, momen- 
tarily flashing with lightning speed along these high- 
4 



50 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

ways of thought. Thus these commonplace sounds 
bring before his mind a vivid, lifelike picture of the 
great, busy world in which we live and of the pecul- 
iar phases of twentieth century civilization. How 
different the mental states of the two men! What 
makes the difference? Not environment, but charac- 
ter. The one is a savage, the other a civilized man. 

Not only is this true when we compare men taken 
from the extremes of society; it is also true when 
we compare civilized men with one another. Take a 
score of men as nearly equal as possible in native 
endowments and in culture, but of different tastes 
and pursuits, and start them out together upon a 
journey around the world. Let each keep a diary 
in which he records his daily thoughts and reflec- 
tions. When the journey is ended, let these several 
diaries be published. Does any one suppose they 
would all be alike? Nay; each one would have a 
character of its own. 

One of these men, we will say, is a statesman. 
To whatever country he goes, the thing that will 
interest him most will be the government of the 
country. He studies its organic law and its system 
of jurisprudence and compares these with those of 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 5 I 

his own country. Of course he will be interested in 
many things, but governmental affairs will be the 
principal topic of his book. 

One is a soldier. He is chiefly interested in mili- 
tary affairs. His record takes note of the size of 
armies and the weapons, munitions, equipments, and 
tactics of warfare. 

Another is a farmer, enamored of his calling. 
However much he may be attracted by other things, 
he will not fail to take note of agricultural affairs. 
Soils, climates, agricultural products, agricultural 
implements, and other such matters will be delin- 
eated in his book. 

Another is a merchant. He takes note of the 
commodities in demand in each country, the sources 
of supply, the methods of transportation, and other 
matters pertaining to mercantile pursuits. 

The teacher is most interested in educational af- 
fairs. What branches are taught in the schools, 
what methods of instruction are employed, the char- 
acter of the school buildings, what remuneration 
the teachers receive for their services, what part the 
government takes in educational affairs — matters of 
this sort will form the staple of his journal. 



52 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

The artist spends much -time in the art galleries 
studying their masterpieces. 

The antiquarian hunts up the moss-covered ruins 
of temples, palaces, and other objects whose origin 
is hidden amid the mists of antiquity. 

And so with each of our score of travelers. Each 
would make a record having distinctive peculiarities. 
Though there would be points of similarity, yet the 
twenty records would be very different books. 

Now, what makes the difference? Not their en- 
vironments, for these have been the same. Thev 
have visited the same places and looked upon the 
same objects. The difference is in the men them- 
selves. 

These illustrations are sufficient to demonstrate 
the fact that a man's thoughts and emotions are to 
a very large extent determined by his own character. 
What a man is counts for more than what he sees. 
The establishment of this general truth also estab- 
lishes the particular truth implied in the text — viz., 
that our thoughts are largely determined by our 
moral character. Let me elucidate this. Take two 
men, as nearly equal as possible in native endow- 
ments and in culture, both being highly educated 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 53 

but differing widely in moral character, one being 
a superlatively devout man and the other notoriously 
wicked, and bring them into contact with the same 
objects. Will their thoughts and feelings be the 
same ? Take them into the sanctuary, and let them 
occupy the same pew during divine service. There 
the Christian finds enjoyment of the purest and most 
exalted character. To him there is indescribable 
sweetness in the songs of Zion; and his enjoyment 
comes, not from the mere physical effects of rhythm 
and melody, but from a far higher source. It is 
not so much "the concord of sweet sounds" that 
gives him pleasure as the lofty sentiments expressed 
in the hymn. Those words expressive of highest 
devotion inspire in his soul an elevated, sacred joy 
in comparison with which mere aesthetic pleasure 
dwindles into insignificance. How is it with the 
other man ? Will he find enjoyment in the service 
of song? That is conditional. The music he may 
enjoy, provided it is of a high order of artistic ex- 
cellence; but his enjoyment does not at all depend 
upon the sacred character of the words used. The 
same music set to words breathing a purely secular 
spirit would awaken the same pleasureable emotions ; 



54 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

and his enjoyment would be as great in a theater or 
opera as in a church, perhaps even greater. So, 
then, while both find enjoyment in the service, their 
enjoyment is of a different character. The one is 
purely aesthetic, while the other is for the most part 
spiritual. 

Next comes the public prayer. In that also the 
Christian finds enjoyment of the loftiest character. 
Each ascription of praise, each expression of adora- 
tion and thanksgiving meets a hearty response in his 
breast. And as the minister lifts up his voice as the 
mouthpiece of the congregation and pours forth 
words of humble confession and fervent supplica- 
tion, there arise in his soul emotions more exalted 
than mundane things can give. He feels that he has 
been borne aloft into the realm of the invisible and 
that he is holding communion with the Father of 
spirits. How is it with the other man ? Will he find 
enjoyment in the prayer? Well, in the first place, it 
is entirely within the range of possibility that he may 
not hear one word of the prayer, his thoughts being 
occupied during its delivery with purely secular af- 
fairs. If he listens, it is to criticize its rhetorical 
and oratorical qualities. If there is a slip in gram- 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 55 

mar, he notices it. If there is a nasal twang or 
some evident oratorical blemish, it affords him a 
sort of malicious merriment. So if it should be that 
both find enjoyment in the prayer, their enjoyment 
is of a widely different character. 

Next comes the Scripture lesson. In that also 
the Christian finds exalted pleasure. Each word 
from the Book is to him a message from the great 
white throne. How is it with the other man? Does 
he receive enjoyment from this part of the service? 
That is conditional. Some portions of Scripture he 
may enjoy. The lofty diction and striking meta- 
phors of Isaiah, the inimitable sententiousness and 
multum in parvo worldly wisdom of Solomon, the 
simple beauty of the parables of Jesus, the sublime 
imagery of the seer of Patmos — these may give him 
pleasure, but not more than would similar rhetorical 
qualities in Homer or Vergil or any other pagan. 
His enjoyment is aesthetic, not spiritual. 

The sermon begins. In that also the Christian 
finds enjoyment of a lofty type. To him every ser- 
mon worthy of the name is an elucidation of a lov- 
ing message from his' Father in heaven. Will the 
wicked man enjoy the sermon ? That is conditional. 



56 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

Should the discourse contain a familiar classical al- 
lusion, a gem of poetry, an apt metaphor, a novel 
illustration, or a striking rhetorical embellishment 
of any sort, or should it be delivered with all the 
graces of the orator's art, these things would give 
him pleasure, but his pleasure would not be in the 
slightest degree dependent on the sacred character 
of the discourse. The same felicities of expression 
and delivery would awaken as great, perhaps even 
greater, pleasure in a political, scientific, or literary 
address. So, while both may enjoy the sermon, 
their enjoyment does not come from the same 
source. One is aesthetic, the other spiritual. 

Next comes the eucharist. To the godless man 
this holy sacrament is only an idle ceremony, an 
antiquated superstition, a performance as utterly 
senseless as any of the rites of ancient paganism. 
To the Christian this same holy eucharist is a veri- 
table soul feast. As he eats the bread and drinks 
the wine, emotions too big for utterance arise. His 
tremulous frame and his tear-soiled face express 
more forcibly than words the lofty feelings that 
burn within. 

How vast the difference in the thoughts and feel- 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 57 

ings of the two men! Who shall see God in the 
sanctuary and be made happy by the sight? An- 
swer : The pure in heart, and they only. 

And not only in the sanctuary, but everywhere, 
is this true. Bring these two men into contact with 
nature in any of her varied forms, and how different 
will be their thoughts and feelings! The godless 
man gazes upon the glories of the rising sun, the 
splendid pageant of the nocturnal sky, and all the 
myriad beauties of nature without one pious emo- 
tion. How different with the devout man! Does 
he turn his eyes upward? Joyfully he exclaims: 

"The heavens declare thy glory, Lord, 
In every star that shines." 

Does he contemplate the vast multitude of objects 
that make up the fauna and the flora of earth or the 
myriad forms of inorganic nature? In them also he 
sees the handiwork of Deity, and in the joy of his 
heart he cries out: "How manifold are thy works, 
O God ! In wisdom hast thou made them all." Yes, 
in the splendors of the noonday and in the milder 
radiance of the gems of nights; in song of bird and 
growth of plant ; in sparkling dewdrop and pattering 
rainfall; in the zephyr's sigh and in the rainbow's 



58 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

matchless beauties; in every object in the material 
universe 

"The Invisible appears in sight, 
And God is seen by mortal eye." 

How vast the difference in the thoughts and emo- 
tions of the two men ! What makes the difference ? 
Not environment, but character. Convert the god- 
less man transform him into a devout Christian, 
and, with the same environments, he will have sub- 
stantially the same emotions as the other. 

Who shall see God in the sanctuary, in nature, in 
revelation, in human history, everywhere, and be 
made happy by the sight? Answer: The pure in 
heart, and they only. Not only is this true on earth ; 
it is true in heaven, in hell, everywhere. It has been 
true in all the ages of the past ; it will be true through 
all the countless cycles of eternity to come. 

Now, this absolute, universal truth is a matter of 
supreme importance to every individual of the hu- 
man race. It concerns every one, not only as a den- 
izen of this world, but as an heir of immortality, 
for death produces no change in character. Will a 
raven be transformed into a swan by opening his 
cage door? Will a vulture be turned into a canary 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 59 

by a change of habitat? Will a rogue become a 
paragon of integrity by merely crossing an interna- 
tional boundary line? No more will a sinner be 
transformed into a saint by the mere act of crossing 
the line that separates the visible from the invisible 
world. Death is merely the separation of soul and 
body. The body returns to dust; the soul passes 
into the beyond with all its faculties unchanged. 
"He that is righteous, let him be righteous still; he 
that is filthy, let him be filthy still." 

Now couple together these two truths — (i) that 
happiness is chiefly dependent upon character and 
not environment and (2) that death produces no 
change in character — and then tell me what are the 
sinner's prospects for happiness in the life to come. 
We have seen that the wicked man does not enjoy 
the society of the good in this life. You can scarcely 
afflict an utterly irreligious man more seriously than 
by restricting him to the society of those who are 
superlatively devout. Between him and them there 
is little in common. To them duty and love are the 
sublimest words in earth's vocabulary. To him in- 
terest and pleasure are terms of vastly higher im- 
port. They love to talk of God and heaven. His 



60 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

conversation is wholly of mundane affairs. Their 
songs and prayers are to him not merely insipid; 
they are positively distasteful. In his estimation, all 
their talk about communion with God and a wit- 
nessing spirit is the twaddle of a fanatical semi- 
lunacy. In such employments he finds no delight. 
From such association he breaks away and seeks 
companionship with congenial spirits. 

Well, if he does not enjoy the society of the good 
on earth, how could he be happy in constant compan- 
ionship with those pure spirits that dwell forever in 
the presence of the great "I Am" ? What is there 
in common between him and them? What are the 
employments of celestial spirits? According to the 
Scripture, their chief employment is praise, adora- 
tion, and thanksgiving, growing out of a study of 
the works and ways of God. In one of those gor- 
geous pictures thrown upon the canvass of inspira- 
tion by the immortal seer of Patmos we behold a 
multitude of the heavenly host praising God with 
harp and song in these words : "Great and marvelous 
are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true 
are thy ways, thou King of saints." This language 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 6l 

implies that these "hosts of heaven" have studied 
both "the works and the ways of God." 

It would be deeply interesting to consider just 
here the works of God; but, for want of time, I 
shall not do so further than to say this : That, as the 
sinner does not see and enjoy God in his works here 
on earth, neither would he do so were he transported 
to the skies. 

But these celestial spirits study not only the 
works, but also the ways, of God. The expression 
"the ways of God" has reference to his moral gov- 
ernment, his dealings with rational, accountable be- 
ings. That these "hosts of heaven" take delight in 
studying God's moral government is clearly taught 
in. Holy Writ. No Bible reader needs to be told how 
deep is the interest which the holy angels take in the 
welfare of the human race. They beheld the crea- 
tion of man. They were witnesses of his temptation 
and disobedience and his expulsion from Eden. 
They were present when the law was given amid the 
thunders of Sinai. And in that supreme hour of 
human history when God manifested himself as 
the impersonation of love and mercy they were 
present again, making the skies of earth resound 



62 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

with the song of heaven, saying: "Glory to God in 
the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward 
men." And we are told that they will be present 
amid the scenes of the judgment, still manifesting a 
deep interest in the welfare of the children of men. 

Well, that same interest which they manifest in 
our fallen, sin-cursed race they feel in all other in- 
telligent beings throughout the universe. Who can 
comprehend the full significance of this statement? 
The number of worlds is greater far than human 
arithmetic can compute or finite imagination can 
conceive of. 

Now, over all these worlds God sways a moral 
scepter. To all he prescribes a righteous law. To 
all he manifests himself in all the attributes of su- 
preme divinity. And each world has a history that 
spans a period of stupendous extent — a history, too, 
of as thrilling interest as is that of our own fallen 
but redeemed race. So, then, God's providences are 
as various and as wonderful as his works. To study 
both his works and his ways is the ceaseless employ- 
ment of the holy angels and the "spirits of just men 
made perfect." 

Will the sin-loving man find pleasure in all this? 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 63 

Impossible. We have seen that it is not environment 
but character that determines our emotions. The 
appetite of the vulture for decaying flesh will go 
with him, if you should place him in a palace of 
gold. Just so the sinner would retain his appetite 
for moral rottenness were you to place him on a 
celestial throne and adorn his brow with a heavenly 
crown. Jasper walls, gates of pearl, gold-paved 
streets, crowns of fadeless amaranth, harps of pur- 
est gold, rivers of crystal brightness, trees laden 
with ambrosial fruits — these things have no power 
to pacify a troubled conscience nor to awaken heav- 
enly emotions in a sin-loving soul. 

Transport a sin-loving man to heaven, and he will 
be a sinner still. Notwithstanding his celestial en- 
vironments, his imagination will revel in scenes of 
iniquity. Allow him to choose the theme of conver- 
sation, and in the foul slang of the barroom he will 
talk of some scene of deep-dyed iniquity in which he 
once participated. And as his vile speech pollutes 
the atmosphere of heaven, saints and angels would 
shrink back horror-stricken and flee from his pres- 
ence as from a "noisome pestilence." Would he be 
happy? Impossible. Heaven would not be heaven 



64 HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 

to him. What the sinner needs to make him happy 
is not a change of latitude and longitude, but a 
change of character; not transportation to celestial 
spheres, but the renovation of his moral nature. 

Thus we see that the awful doom of the wicked 
is brought about, not as men in their ignorance 
have been wont to suppose, by an arbitrary decree of 
omnipotence, but by the operation of a righteous law 
that is as universal as the presence of God and as 
changeless as the divine character. 

Every atom of matter in the universe is under 
the dominion of the great force of gravity, and that 
force brings about most diverse results when oper- 
ating under dissimilar conditions. To illustrate. I 
stand upon the brink of a lofty precipice, holding in 
one hand a balloon and in the other a cannon ball. 
At the same instant I release my hold upon both. 
The balloon rises, while the cannon ball rapidly de- 
scends. Now, what makes the difference in the di- 
rection of the motion of the two objects? Why do 
not both rise or both fall? Are the two' objects 
under the operation of two different forces? No; 
both are within the grasp of the same all-pervasive 
force of gravity. That force tosses the balloon sky- 



HAPPINESS CONDITIONED UPON CHARACTER. 65 

ward and at the same time hurls the cannon ball 
downward in a rapidly accelerating ratio. The 
difference is in the objects themselves. The one is 
heavy ; the other is light. 

In like manner there is a great force of spiritual 
gravity pervading the entire moral universe. That 
force lifts one soul to the skies and places it at the 
foot of the great white throne. Another soul it 
hurls down, clown, down to the nethermost abysses 
of the bottomless pit. The difference is in the souls 
themselves. The one is pure, the other impure. 
5 



IV. 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear 
my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will 
sup with him, and he with me." (Rev. iii. 20.) 

From time immemorial, in all civilized nations, it 
has been the custom for a man approaching the resi- 
dence of another to knock or ring a bell or in some 
way make a noise to attract attention, so that he may 
be invited to enter. This custom rests upon a prin- 
ciple of jurisprudence which is aptly stated in the 
medieval apothegm : "Every man's house is his own 
castle." This is tantamount to saying that every 
man has a right to say who may and who may not 
enter his place of abode. In other words, no man 
has a right to enter another's home without permis- 
sion. Now, this custom of civilized society is here 
used to illustrate a fundamental principle of the 
kingdom of God. 

Who is the speaker in this passage ? Not a human 
being. Not an angel. Not any created intelligence. 
He who represents himself as standing in the atti- 
(66) 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 67 

tude of a suppliant before a fast-closed door is none 
other than the Triune God, the Creator, Ruler, and 
Redeemer of the universe. 

What is the door before which Jehovah stands 
and whose threshold he will not cross without per- 
mission? It is universally conceded that the door 
has reference to the human mind or soul. But this 
answer needs analysis. What part of man's com- 
plex being is meant ? The intellect, the sensibilities, 
or the will ? When we attempt to answer this ques- 
tion, we find ourselves engaged in controversy. Yet 
there is no need of endless wordiness on this sub- 
ject. The exact truth may be established. 

As a foundation for the line of thought which I 
shall present, I lay down this as a proposition which 
cannot be successfully controverted : Everything 
must be governed in accordance with its nature. 

Every object has certain peculiarities of constitu- 
tion which make up what we call its nature; and 
when we attempt to govern or utilize or control any 
object, we must make our attempted government, 
utilization, or control conform to its nature. 

Let. me elucidate this. . Suppose we deal with the 
vegetable kingdom. Suppose a man desires to en- 



68 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



gage in the cultivation of the banana or the orange 
for profit. Does he go to Greenland or Labrador 
and purchase a tract of land to begin his operations? 
Most assuredly not. Why not? Simply because he 
knows that it is the nature of these plants to grow 
only underneath the sunny skies of the tropics. He 
knows that in those frigid regions his enterprise 
would be foredoomed to failure. Now, what is true 
of the banana and the orange is true of every ag- 
ricultural, horticultural, and floricultural product. 
Every plant has its laws of growth. The farmer 
does not cultivate corn as he does wheat, nor rice as 
he does potatoes. The reason why the farmer of 
the present day reaps a larger harvest from a given 
acreage than did his ancestors of the distant past is 
simply because he knows more about the laws of 
nature than did his ancestors and strives to conform 
thereto. 

The same principle holds good in the animal king- 
dom. Consider the case of a capitalist who invests 
a large sum of money in a menagerie. When he 
has gathered together specimens of all the different 
varieties of animals to be found on the surface, of 
the earth, must he not know something of the na— 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 69 

ture of the animals in his collection? Suppose he 
should attempt to feed the lion upon grass or the 
giraffe upon beefsteak. No gift of prophecy would 
be needed to foretell his failure. 

The principle applies also in the mineral kingdom. 
Gather small quantities of sand from the beach, 
mingle with it an alkali of some sort, and apply to 
it the heat of a furnace, and there comes out glass 
as clear as crystal. But suppose you should deal with 
gunpowder in the same way. There would be a 
tremendous explosion and an awful catastrophe. In 
order to utilize any object in the mineral kingdom, 
we need to know something concerning its nature 
and to conform ourselves thereto. 

Now, these three kingdoms — the animal, the veg- 
etable, and the mineral — make up the whole of the 
material universe. So the point is established that 
when we deal with any object in the material uni- 
verse we must conform ourselves to its nature. 

Not only is this true, but it is also true that God 
does the same. If any one chooses to assert that 
God can suspend or annul or abrogate any law of 
nature, I shall not engage him in controversy. But 
who will assert that God does this continually? 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



Suppose some one should assert that God's govern- 
ment of the material universe will be different to- 
morrow from what it is to-day; that to-morrow all 
nature's laws will be changed and all her processes 
reversed; that water will no longer flow downhill, 
but will go upstream; that water will no longer 
expand under the influence of heat, and so all the 
steam engines of the world will come to a stand- 
still; that the electric current will no longer flow 
along its accustomed channels, and so the cities of 
the world will grope in darkness, and the trolley 
cars everywhere will cease to move, and the electric 
telegraph will become a thing of the past; that the 
oak will no longer produce acorns, but will produce 
pumpkins, and the pumpkin vine will produce acorns ; 
that the great force of gravity will become inoper- 
ative, and so the earth will forsake its orbit and go 
careering on through the dark, cold voids of space 
forever. I say : Suppose some one should assert 
this. Would he not be at once set down, as a lunatic ? 
That nature's laws are universal and immutable is a 
fact which underlies all science and all the arts of 
civilized life. This is tantamount to saying that 
God governs everything according to its nature. 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



71 



Now, in order to know how God governs mind 
we need to have accurate knowledge concerning 
the nature of mind. In order to acquire this we 
need to compare mind with matter. There are just 
two substances in nature, mind and matter, and 
these are totally different in their nature and prop- 
erties. Each has properties which the other has not. 

Matter, for instance, has the property of exten- 
sion, or length, breadth, and thickness. It has shape. 
Every material thing is round or square or trian- 
gular or of some other shape, regular or irregular. 
It also has the property of inertia and many other 
properties which need not here be enumerated. 
Now, mind has none of these properties. You nev- 
er think of a man's mind as having the property of 
extension. You never ask how many inches long 
or thick it is, neither do you make inquiry as to its 
shape. No one ever thinks of mind as having the 
property of inertia in a physical sense. And so of 
all other material properties. Mind is totally desti- 
tute of all these properties. 

But mind has other properties of which matter is 
destitute. It has a capacity to know. This is true 
of all mind. It is true even of the idiot. The range 



72 KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 

of the idiot's intellect may be very narrow, and his 
stock of mental resources may be exceedingly mea- 
ger ; yet he does know some things. 

Mind has also a capacity to feel. We all have a 
power to hope and a power to fear, a power to love 
and a power to hate, and a number of other emotions 
which we exercise day by day. 

Mind has also a power to will, to choose between 
two alternatives. When I move a hand or head or 
foot or eye or any part of my body, this is done 
through an act of the will. Every man is conscious 
that he possesses this power and that he exercises it 
not only every day and every hour, but every min- 
ute. Now, these powers which belong to mind do 
not belong to any material thing. A stone cannot 
think. A clod cannot feel. A planet cannot will. 
No material thing can exercise any of these powers. 

Thus we see that mind and matter are totally 
different in their nature and properties. This being 
the case, it necessarily follows that the government 
of the two must be different. Let me elucidate this. 
Suppose we are dealing with matter. Suppose a 
man has a block of stone which he wishes to take 
its place upon a wall which he is building. He does 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 73 

not speak to the stone and command it to move. He 
simply uses force. He takes it in his hands ; or if 
it is too large for that, he uses a leverage of some 
sort and thus puts it in place. But if he is dealing 
with mind, he proceeds very differently. If he 
wishes his little son to bring him a book, he does 
not take the child up in his arms and use its hands 
as he would use a pair of tongs, but he gives a com- 
mand: "Johnnie, bring me the book." And in case 
of refusal, he appeals to hope of reward or fear of 
punishment or some other motive and in this way 
secures obedience. Mind can be governed only 
through motives. In all human governments there 
is a recognition of the fact that mind has these three 
powers — intellect, sensibilities, and will — and that 
authority can sway the will and thus control the 
conduct in no other way than through the operation 
of motives. 

Not only is this the sole method of all human 
governments, it is also the method" of the divine 
government. God's government of matter, like 
man's, is a government of force. The great eternal, 
self-existent, omniscient, omnipotent Spirit reaches 
out through the medium of the great correlated 



74 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



forces of light, heat, magnetism, electricity, etc., and 
takes hold of all the atoms of matter in the uni- 
verse and shapes them into worlds and systems of 
worlds and gives to each rates of motion peculiar to 
itself. But when God deals with mind he no longer 
brings into play these correlated forces of nature; 
but he promulgates a command, thus appealing to 
the intellect and the emotional nature and seeking 
through these to reach and sway the will. God's 
government of mind is not a government of force, 
but a government through motives. This is the 
teaching of the Book from the first to last. 

But if I should stop just here in my analysis, I 
would leave a defective and erroneous impression 
upon your minds concerning the extent to which 
divine power can go in seeking to sway the will. 
In order to elucidate this, I shall use an illustration 
which, though it is exceedingly simple, brings out a 
truth that is fundamental in psychology. Suppose 
some one places upon a table before me some object 
with which I am familiar — say, for instance, an 
orange. Now, after I have inspected the orange, 
handled it, and smelled it, can I by an effort of the 
will believe it to be an apple or a pomegranate? 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



75 



Nay; that is impossible. My senses having taught 
me that it is an orange, I cannot by mere will power 
believe it to be something else. So, then, my fellow 
man has coerced in me a certain state of the intellect, 
made me to know that this is an orange. This, then, 
is a fundamental truth in psychology : A state of the 
intellect may be coerced. 

Again, when the orange is placed before me, sup- 
pose that just at that time I should be very hungry, 
and suppose also that I am fond of oranges. In 
that case I would experience a desire to eat the or- 
ange, and this I could not prevent by an act of the 
will. No man can prevent his being hungry by an 
exercise of the will. AVhether he will appease his 
hunger by eating is altogether a different question. 
So, then, my fellow man, by placing the orange be- 
fore me, has coerced in me the feeling of hunger. 
Thus we reach another fundamental truth — viz., a 
state of the sensibilities may be coerced. 

But this is the utmost limit to which my fellow 
man can go with his coercing processes. He has 
forced me to know that I have an orange before me. 
He has coerced in me a desire to partake of that 
orange, but he cannot force me to will to eat the 



7 6 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



orange. If he should cut the orange into small 
pieces and cram these down my throat by force, 
that would not touch the freedom of my will. 
Every man is conscious of the fact that his will is 
free. We make a multitude of choices every day in 
full consciousness of the fact that in every case we 
might have made a different choice. 

These, then, are fundamental facts in psychology : 
(i) A state of the intellect may be coerced; (2) an 
emotion, or sensibility, may be coerced; (3) the will 
cannot be coerced. 

Now, God governs mind in accordance with its 
nature. If my fellow man can coerce in me a state 
of the intellect, cannot God do the same? He can, 
and he does. 

Through the agency of the Holy Spirit he enters 
the domain of man's intellect and, without asking 
permission, does the work which the theologian 
designates by the term "conviction'' — i. e., he flashes 
the light of truth there, forcing the man to know 
that he is a guilty sinner before God. 

Not only so; but through the Holy Spirit he 
enters the domain of the emotional nature and, in 
spite of the man's will, excites his hopes, his fears, 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



77 



his conscience, his higher aspirations, and all the 
various powers that make up his emotional nature 
and seeks through these to reach and sway the will. 
This part of the work of the Holy Spirit sometimes 
produces effects that are visible to a looker-on, caus- 
ing the man to tremble, Felix-like, with overpower- 
ing emotion. 

But when God has done this he has reached the 
limit of coercion. I speak this with reverence. 
God cannot coerce the will of a rational, account- 
able being. To do so would be to subvert the foun- 
dations of his moral government. Before the door- 
way of that sanctum sanctorum of man's being he- 
pauses and knocks and asks permission to enter. 
Hear what God himself says: "Behold, I stand at 
the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, and 
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup 
with him, and he with me." The door must be 
opened from within, not from without. And so 
the fact here gleams upon us from God's holy Book 
that man, poor worm of the dust though he is phys- 
ically, has the power to say "No" to Omnipotence.. 

And every unsaved man exercises this power:. conr 
tinually. He stands in the doorway of this inner- 



73 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



shrine of his being and by his actions says: "O, 
thou King of kings and Lord of lords, thou mayest 
sway an omnipotent scepter over the material uni- 
verse ; thou mayest move suns and planets and world 
galaxies according to thy sovereign will. But here 
is one little spot where I am master of the situation. 
This citadel of my nature I defy thee to enter." 
And so there he stands day by day, flashing the 
sword of rebellion in the face of the omnipotent 
Jehovah and defying him to cross the threshold. 

But at whose threshold does Jehovah stand? 
Does he knock only at the door of a favored few — 
the rich, the great, the learned ? Nay ; he knocks at 
every door. No process of argumentation is needed 
to establish this. Just here experience is an all-suffi- 
cient teacher. Unsaved man of every created and 
every social sphere, I appeal to you. Answer me 
honestly. Turn your eye inward and scrutinize your 
mental state. Turn your eye backward along the 
track of your past existence. Have there not been 
times when there have come into your mind without 
your bidding thoughts of God and duty, of death and 
judgment, of heaven and hell? And have not these 
grave thoughts remained with you as unwelcome 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



79 



guests in spite of your most persistent efforts to dis- 
lodge them? You know that they have. At times 
they have haunted you amid the multitudinous 
cares and activities of business life. Sometimes 
they have been with you as you have rolled upon a 
sleepless bed at midnight. Even the noise of mirth 
and the giddy whirl of pleasure have not always 
been able to banish them. And when disappoint- 
ment has thrown her gloomy pall around you, or 
when you have experienced the indescribable sadness 
and loneliness of bereavement, then these solemn 
thoughts have asserted their presence with redoubled 
vigor. Now, whence came these thoughts? And 
why are they so hard to dislodge? What holds 
them as with hooks of steel in a privacy where they 
are unwelcome guests ? And why do they persist in 
returning uninvited ? Ah ! they are the utterances 
of the same "still small voice" that spoke to Elijah 
on Horeb's rugged side. They are the voice of 
God speaking to man concerning his highest inter- 
ests. 

Now, here in this agency of the Divine Spirit we 
have the character of God revealed in its most glo- 
rious aspect ; for this shows in a way that nothing 



8o 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



else does or can the strength and tenderness of God's 
love toward the individual sinner. Everywhere else 
God's beneficent work is general, not special. I 
mean that his beneficent provisions are for the hu- 
man race and not for any particular individual. 
Suppose I contemplate the manifold beauties of na- 
ture. I cannot claim that they were brought into 
existence for my special benefit. They were created 
just as much for every other human being as for 
myself. And as with the beauties, so with the utili- 
ties, of nature. The sun shines, and the showers fall 
for me; but not for me alone. In all these benefi- 
cent provisions of nature I am only a partner in 
common with every other individual of the race. 
And this principle holds good not only within the 
domain of nature, but also in the realm of grace. 
The Bible was given for me, but it was also given 
for every other one of the posterity of Adam. In 
all the utterances of this glorious evangel of love 
there is not a line that was written for me especially. 
This is true even of that marvelous display of divine 
beneficence that is symbolized by the cross. There 
is not a drop of the blood that flowed, on Calvary, 
that was shed for me alone. Every other human 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR, 



8l 



being has as much interest in that all-atoning blood 
as myself. And this is true of all the agencies of 
grace. In them all God works in a general way, 
works for the race and not for any particular indi- 
vidual. 

But when we come to the activities of the Holy 
Spirit, the work is no longer general, but special. 
When the "still small voice" spoke to Elijah on 
Horeb's side, its message was not for the Israelitish 
nation, nor for any tribe or family, but for Elijah 
alone. In like manner when the "still small voice" 
speaks to-day, its message is not for any aggrega- 
tion of men, but for the one particular listener. No 
man, no angel, no created being has any personal 
interest in that message save that one soul. What a 
wonderful thought! 

Think who God is and what he is. We are told 
that "God inhabiteth eternity." Strive to compre- 
hend that thought. Rise upon imagination's wings 
and go back to the days of man's primeval inno- 
cency; back millions of ages farther still to a period 
when the sons of God shouted for joy over the crea- 
tion of a new world ; back multiplied millions of 
ages farther still to a period when there is not a 
6 



82 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



single world in existence, when no angel's song has 
yet enlivened the solitudes of infinite space and no 
ray of light has yet illuminated the awful gloom of 
eternal night ; back millions on millions of ages far- 
ther still until imagination, with all her Godlike 
powers, is wearied to exhaustion. Have you reached 
the beginning of God's existence? You are no near- 
er than when you started. Then turn your eye for- 
ward. Try to measure futurity. It is an impossible 
task. Eternity to come is as endless as eternity 
past. God has always existed. He always will ex- 
ist. Now, the truth which here comes before us is 
that this august Being who inhabits eternity puts 
forth special volitions in behalf of the individual 
sinner. 

Again, we are taught that God is omnipresent. 
Try to comprehend that thought. Endeavor to 
form an estimate of the extent of space. The dis- 
tance of the sun from the earth is so great that a 
railroad train traveling at the rate of five hundred 
miles a day could not reach it in less than five hun- 
dred years. The nearest fixed star is so far away 
that the railroad train could not reach it in less than 
one hundred and thirteen millions of years. 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 83 

It will give a more impressive idea of the vastness 
of these distances if we consider the length of time 
it takes for light to traverse them. Light travels so 
rapidly that it can flash entirely around the earth at 
the equator eight times while your watch ticks once. 
Now, the distance of the nearest fixed star from the 
earth is so great that light traveling with this im- 
mense velocity cannot reach it in less than three and 
one-fourth years. Others of the stars that appear 
in the sky on every cloudless night aie still many 
times farther away. 

These, however, are utterly insignificant in num- 
ber when compared with those which the telescope 
brings into view. The number of stars made visible 
by the powerful telescopes of the present day is so 
great that an enumeration of them is impossible. 
Astronomers tell us that some of the stars brought 
into view by modern telescopes are so far away that 
their light cannot reach the earth in less than thirty 
million years. Thirty million years traveling with 
a velocity thirty million times as great as that of the 
fastest railway train! What an idea this gives us 
of the extent of space ! 

But we have not reached the limit. The first 



84 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



telescopes that were constructed were of small mag- 
nifying power and hence brought into view compar- 
atively few new worlds. Soon afterwards instru- 
ments of greater power were constructed, and these 
vastly increased the number of visible worlds. Since 
then improvement after improvement has been made 
in the telescope, and every successive augmentation 
of optical power has evoked from the viewless depths 
of space countless millions of flaming worlds unseen 
before. This being the case, astronomers believe 
that if it were possible to construct a telescope hav- 
ing a magnifying power ten thousand times greater 
than that of any now in existence, the number of 
visible worlds would be proportionately increased. 
What is a drop of water in comparison with the 
ocean, or a grain of sand in comparison with the 
earth? Yet thousands upon thousands of times 
smaller, perhaps, is that part of the universe that lies 
within the range of telescopic vision when compared 
with that part which lies in those far-off depths 
which no telescope has ever penetrated. 

Imagine yourself instantaneously transported by 
some mysterious power to a point far beyond the 
remotest star revealed by the most powerful earthly 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



85 



-telescope — that star whose light reaches us only 
after a journey of thirty million years. Pause and 
ask yourself the question: "What lies before me?" 
The answer is, "Space." Rise upon the pinions of 
an angel and travel with the velocity of the light- 
ning's flash and continue your flight for more 
millions of ages than there are drops of water in 
the ocean. What lies before you? Space. Increase 
your speed ten thousand fold and go on and on and 
on for more millions of ages than there are atoms 
of matter in the whole visible universe. Have you 
reached the boundaries of space? Nay; you are 
no nearer than when you began your flight. Space 
has no boundaries. It is "a circle whose center is 
everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere." 
So, then, there is room in space for more millions of 
worlds than our arithmetic can compute or finite im- 
agination can conceive of. And since every succes- 
sive increase of telescopic power has revealed worlds 
unseen before, it is only reasonable to suppose that 
still greater telescopic power would bring into view 
multiplied millions more. Increase your speed ten 
million fold and go on and on for more millions of 
ages than there are atoms of matter in the whole tel- 



86 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



escopic universe. Would you be beyond the bound- 
aries of the material universe? Who will venture 
the rash assertion ? Doubtless you would find your- 
self still surrounded by countless millions of worlds 
stretching away in every direction, far beyond the 
reach of telescopic vision. 

Now, all this space God fills with his presence. 
Over all these worlds he sways an omnipotent scep- 
ter. His hand keeps the machinery of the whole 
universe in motion. 

W T ith all these facts concerning the nature of God 
and the vastness of his dominions fresh in our minds, 
let us come back to the thought presented in the text, 
that God strives diligently and persistently to save 
the individual sinner. 

My brethren, I declare to you that this is the most 
overpowering thought that has ever entered my 
mind. My spiritual nature has been stirred to its 
profoundest depths as I have contemplated the man- 
ger, the cross, and the sepulcher; but my soul has 
raised her highest note of rapture only when she 
has seen the infinite and eternal God on his throne in 
heaven put forth special volitions in behalf of the 
individual sinner 



KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. 



87 



Look upon the scene. God, who inhabits eternity, 
whose presence fills all space, whose right hand keeps 
the machinery of the universe in motion, who con- 
tinually receives highest adoration from the loftiest 
intelligences in the universe — that God comes down 
to this poor little sin-cursed, sin-polluted planet. 
What for? To save a world? No. To save a 
nation? No. To save a city? No. But to try to 
save one single sinner, and he perhaps the lowest 
of the low and the vilest of the vile; to strive 
through intellect, conscience, and heart to induce the 
stubborn will to relent. This is the superlative de- 
gree of infinite love. 



V. 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 

"The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah. Arid it 
came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, 
as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my 
brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked 
them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left 
of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said 
unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in 
the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of 
Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are 
burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these 
words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, 
and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven. . . . 
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year 
of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him : and I took 
up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been 
beforetime sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto 
me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? 
this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore 
afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live forever : why 
should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of 
my fathers' sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are 
consumed with fire? Then the king said unto me, For what 
dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 

(88) 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 89 

And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy 
servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send 
me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that 
I may build it. And the king said unto me, (the queen also 
sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when 
wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I 
set him a time. Moreover, I said unto the king, If it please 
the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the 
river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; 
and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that 
he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the 
palace which appertaineth to the house, and for the wall of 
the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the 
king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon 
me." (Neh. i. 1-4; ii. 1-8.) 

I have chosen these words as a starting point for 
a discourse upon certain phases of the life and char- 
acter of Nehemiah. 

Nehemiah was a Hebrew of the Babylonian dis- 
persion. His ancestors were taken captive by Nebu- 
chadnezzar when he captured Jerusalem and were 
carried to the far East. Seventy years later, when 
they had opportunity to return under the proclama- 
tion of Cyrus, they, like a great majority of their 
countrymen, chose to remain in the land of their 
exile, and there Nehemiah was born and reared. 



90 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 



When Nehemiah comes before us in the narrative, 
he has already reached manhood's estate. No spe- 
cific statement is made concerning his age, but it is 
evident that he is no callow youth with his brain full 
of visionary schemes. He displays a breadth of 
thought, a soundness of judgment, a far-reaching 
vision, and a profundity of wisdom that rarely come 
to a man until he has reached middle life. 

The narrative shows that he was a man of great 
wealth. He was also a man of culture. He spoke 
Hebrew with fluency and force and wrote it with 
accuracy and skill and was also familiar with the 
Persian tongue. Moreover, he was not a novice in 
statecraft. 

He first appears before us in the capacity of cup- 
bearer to Artaxerxes, king of Persia. From our 
modern, Occidental viewpoint, this position seems 
merely that of an ordinary palace menial. Full in- 
formation, however, corrects this estimate. It is 
true that the service which gave name to the office — 
that of serving the king with wine — is that of a 
menial. Yet the cupbearer of an ancient Persian 
king was very much more than an ordinary palace 
menial. Of all the hundreds of inmates of the pal- 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 9 1 

ace, he was the only one who had access to> the king 
at all times. He guarded the entrance to the king's 
private apartments and was his most trusted official. 
Every one, even the prime minister, the commander 
in chief of the army, or a royal personage, if he 
desired an interview with the king, must arrange it 
through the cupbearer. 

This being true, it is evident that the king would 
exercise great care in the selection of a person to 
fill this position. Obviously, Nehemiah had been 
recommended by citizens of the highest character 
and standing. 

Brought thus into constant association with his 
cupbearer, the king, if he found him in any way a 
disagreeable companion, would soon dismiss him. 
If he found him thoroughly agreeable, it was natural 
that a genuine friendship should spring up between 
them. This is what occurred in the case of Nehe- 
miah. It lies upon the very surface of the narrative 
that the king had a warm personal friendship for 
him. 

Nehemiah speaks of the building in which he offi- 
ciated as "Shushan the palace" ; and the same phra- 



92 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 



seology is used in speaking of this building in the 
book of Esther and also in the book of Daniel. 

The name of the city was Susa. It was quite an 
ancient city, having been founded before the days 
of Abraham. The palace, however, was quite mod- 
ern, having been built by Darius Hystaspes, the 
grandfather of Artaxerxes. This palace was fa- 
mous for its size. The colonnade in front covered 
more than an acre of ground. Its dining apartments 
were sufficiently spacious to accommodate fifteen 
thousand persons; and that number were fed regu- 
larly at the king's table during the reign of Xerxes, 
the husband of Esther. In splendor it was unsur- 
passed even by the gorgeously magnificent palaces 
of Nineveh and Babylon or any other the world ever 
saw. A hint as to its magnificence is given in the 
book of Esther. 

It may be well to remember that Nehemiah be- 
longs to Esther's day. Only twenty years inter- 
vened between the death of Xerxes, the husband of 
Esther, and the time when Nehemiah appears be- 
fore us as the cupbearer of Artaxerxes, being then 
a man in the full maturity of his powers. He may 
have seen Haman hanging from the gallows built 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 93 

for Mordecai, and he may have witnessed some of 
the awful scenes of the fierce battle that raged in 
the streets of Susa between the Jews and the parti- 
sans of Haman. 

Nehemiah first comes before us when he is off 
duty. The king had more than one cupbearer, and 
these served by turns, the time of continuous service 
being probably four or six months. During one of 
his periodical vacations Nehemiah received through 
his brother, Hanani, and other exilic Jews, who 
had just returned from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 
tidings that made him exceedingly sad. The walls 
of the city were for the most part in ruins, and the 
gates had been demolished or carried off. Bands of 
robbers from neighboring Gentile tribes raided the 
city at pleasure and carried away whatever they 
chose. Men, women, and children were kidnaped 
for slaves. Cold-blooded murders were of almost 
daily occurrence. Those in authority seemed pow- 
erless to protect life, liberty, or property. From the 
standpoint of morals and religion, the situation was 
appalling. Ezra's reformation thirteen years pre- 
viously had left apparently no abiding results. The 
regular temple services were no longer kept up, for 



94 NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 

the reason that tithes and offerings had ceased, mak- 
ing it necessary for the priests and Levites to go to 
the country to obtain a living. The Sabbath law, 
the law prohibiting intermarriage with heathen 
races, and other laws designed to differentiate the 
Jews from other nations were openly defied. 

Nehemiah saw that, unless a corrective should be 
applied, Israel's doom was sealed. All that was dis- 
tinctive in her civilization and her religion would 
soon pass away, and she would sink below the vile 
level of neighboring heathen tribes. His patriotism 
and his spiritual nature were stirred to their pro- 
foundest depths. He mourned and wept during the 
entire period of four months that intervened before 
his next term of service in the royal palace, and he 
also prayed almost continually, and often fasted. 

His prayers were for Jerusalem, that God would 
raise up some one to rebuild the walls, reestablish 
law and order, and bring about the many reforms 
that were so sadly needed. . 

During these long, weary months of weeping and 
mourning a mighty conflict was going on in his soul. 
If God should answer his prayers, some one would 
be needed as a leader in this great work, and no 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 



95 



one with the requisite qualifications for leadership 
was within the range of his vision- — none save him- 
self. Of his own preeminent fitness for such lead- 
ership, he did not have a doubt. But could he afford 
to accept such a place? His position as cupbearer 
was one of luxurious ease, preeminently honorable, 
highly lucrative, and would last a lifetime, unless 
he should displease the king. Rulership at Jerusa- 
lem under the conditions then prevailing would nec- 
essarily be difficult, toilsome, and harassing in the 
extreme. Then, too, his salary as governor would 
have to be collected from his own countrymen, most 
of whom were living in abject poverty. Under 
these conditions what course should he pursue? 
Ought he to consider the matter solely from the 
standpoint of personal interest? or ought he to be 
willing to accept the place at the bidding of patriot- 
ism? Fierce was the struggle within the depths of 
his soul. It was exceedingly difficult for him to 
get the consent of his will to give up his place in the 
palace of the great king. Day after day. week after 
week, month after month the conflict raged. Final- 
ly he was able to triumph over self. He resolved 
that if God would open the way he would give up 



96 NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 

his position in the royal court and accept the gov- 
ernorship at Jerusalem with the determination to 
receive no salary. 

When the time arrived for him to come before 
the king, he doubtless tried hard to appear bright and 
cheerful in accordance with palace etiquette; but his 
deep sorrow had been so long continued that it had 
left its footprints in his countenance. This brought 
forth from the king an inquiry as to the cause of 
his sorrow. Promptly he told the king the whole 
story as to the tidings from Jerusalem. Thereupon 
the king inquired whether he had any plan in his 
mind for improving the situation. 

Nehemiah answered promptly, but during a few 
seconds that intervened before he spoke he lifted 
up his heart in earnest prayer that God would cause 
the king to grant the request he should make. He 
then asked the king to send him to Jerusalem with 
authority to do the work that was needed. This 
was tantamount to asking for the position of pasha, 
or governor, of the province of Judah. Without 
the slightest hesitation the request was granted, and 
as soon as possible Nehemiah took his departure. 
On his arrival at Jerusalem he promptly ascertained 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 97 

by personal inspection the amount of work to be 
done in order to rebuild the walls. He then called 
together the priests, the elders, the nobles, and the 
leading men of Jerusalem and other Hebrew cities 
and towns and laid his plans before them. He told 
them that it was his purpose to rebuild the walls of 
Jerusalem at once and that his plan was not to utilize 
hired labor, but to do the entire work through the 
voluntary labor of the people — not merely those who 
were accustomed to manual labor, but the whole peo- 
ple — business men, professional men, capitalists, and 
priests — everybody. A moment's reflection will 
show that this was a most remarkable proposition. 
Suppose some high official should make such a prop- 
osition to the business, professional, and capitalistic 
classes of one of our American cities — ask them to 
neglect their own business for a period of many 
weeks and work without remuneration with their 
own hands at the hardest kind of manual labor. 
Would he be likely to succeed ? 

Yet this is what Nehemiah accomplished. With 
the exception of the nobles and the little village of 
Tekoa, every man in the whole province cheerfully 
responded to this appeal. Did any- orator on earth 
7 



98 NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 

ever accomplish so difficult a task by one short 
speech ? 

When the work began, the rulers of some of the 
neighboring Gentile tribes sought to put a stop to it 
by military force; but Nehemiah was more than a 
match for them. The men working at the walls 
were supplied with weapons as well as with tools, 
and thus they were always ready to meet an attack. 
At whatever point an attack was expected there was 
Nehemiah with his trumpeter, ready for any emer- 
gency. During the whole time, until the walls were 
completed, Nehemiah slept with his clothes on and 
required his male servants to do the same. 

His enemies now resorted to stratagem. First, 
they sought to decoy him outside the walls under flag 
of truce in order that they might murder him. 
Then, through traitors in his own camp, they sought 
to induce him to perform acts which would disgrace 
him and cause his downfall and probably his death. 
But all these malicious efforts for his ruin proved 
.abortive. 

During the progress of the work the governor 
was also confronted with internal dissension of a 
. most /serious character. The poorer classes, as they 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 99 

were receiving no wages for their work on the walls, 
were obliged to incur debts in order to maintain 
themselves and their families, The capitalists, as a 
prerequisite to a loan, however small, demanded a 
mortgage on property, or, if the applicant had no 
property, demanded a bill of sale of a son or daugh- 
ter or of the man himself. Thus many of these 
poor people, while working for the public without 
' wages, had been forced to mortgage their homes or 
sell their children or themselves into endless slavery. 
This sort of Shylock financiering had been going on 
before Nehemiah's arrival. 

As soon as this came to the ears of Nehemiah he 
called a mass meeting of the whole populace; and 
having stated to the audience the facts in the case, 
he strenuously rebuked these heartless capitalists. 
He told them that while they were thus cruelly op- 
pressing their poor brethren he, on account of the 
impoverished condition of the people, had volunta- 
rily relinquished his salary as governor. He also 
xalled attention to the fact that he was feeding at 
-his table every day a hundred and fifty Hebrews, 
besides, a multitude of comers and goers from 
.abroad, He also told them that while he was at his 



IOO NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 

far-away home in the East he had been accustomed 
to contributing to a fund that was being raised to 
purchase the freedom of Hebrews who had been sold 
into slavery. He appealed to them to cancel these 
mortgages and these personal servitude indentures. 
Without one dissenting voice this proposition was 
agreed to. Nehemiah, however, was too wise to ac- 
cept a yea-and-nay vote as a finality. He had seen to 
it that a number of priests were present ; and he now 
called upon them to come forward and administer 
an oath to these capitalists, that they would do what 
they had promised, and he also had their names re- 
corded. Thus, in spite of foes without and traitors 
within, and in spite of internal troubles that would 
have paralyzed almost any other man, he went on 
with his work on the walls, completing it in the sur- 
prisingly short period of fifty-two days. 

The walls being completed, Nehemiah at once set 
about another matter that he regarded as of vital 
importance — viz., the instruction of the people in 
the Mosaic law, the law of God. He realized that 
many of their derelictions were partly due to igno- 
rance of the divine law. Copies of the sacred books 
were scarce and high, so that a general circulation 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. IOI 

of them was impossible. He therefore resolved to 
call the people together and have the writings of 
Moses read to them. Having secured the coopera- 
tion of Ezra, he appointed a day for the work to 
begin, the day appointed being within about a week 
after the completion of the walls. 

Everybody came — men, women, and the older 
children. Ezra, standing upon an elevated platform, 
read in a loud voice and made such comments as he 
deemed necessary in order that the people might un- 
derstand. A number of Levites scattered through 
the audience repeated his words, so that all of the 
vast multitude might hear. The reading was con- 
tinued six hours, the people listening with intense 
interest. This work of reading and expounding was 
kept up at such times as were deemed advisable, until 
the whole five books of Moses were read. Nehemiah 
then called upon the people to join him in a covenant 
that they would hereafter keep the law in its entir- 
ety, and the proposition was agreed to with intense 
enthusiasm. 

This was the beginning of a great religious refor- 
mation. The Sabbath was strictly observed. Inter- 
marriage with Gentiles ceased. Tithes and offerings 



102 NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 

flowed into the temple treasury. Priests and Levites 
resumed their duties, and temple services were held 
regularly. 

There were backslidings in after years, but it does 
not lie within the scope of this discourse to consider 
other details # of Nehemiah's governorship. His ad- 
ministration marks an era in Hebrew history. The 
public reading and exposition of the Word of God 
by Ezra and his coadjutors was the germ of the Jew- 
ish synagogue, an institution that spread with mar- 
velous rapidity throughout the world, diffusing a 
knowledge of Scripture unapproximated in any for- 
mer age. What this was worth in preparing the 
way for the ministry of our Lord and his apostles 
no finite mind can compute. 

Nehemiah's first administration lasted twelve 
years. The duration of his second administration 
is not definitely stated in the narrative, but one of 
his official acts recorded by himself — viz., the expul- 
sion of the son of Joiada, the priest — is said by schol- 
ars to prove that his second administration lasted 
more than twenty years, thus making a total of more 
that thirty-two years. 

As a ruler he took a far-reaching view of the 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. IO3 

moral, as well as of the material, interests of the peo- 
ple and did all in his power to promote them. In his 
official acts, as well as in his private life, he sought 
to conform strictly to the law of God. In his deal- 
ings with men he was never influenced by either 
fear or favor. The lowliest received the same con- 
sideration as the highest. Of selfishness we find 
never a trace. His devoutness is worthy of univer- 
sal emulation. Whatever his engagements or his 
environments were, he was always in a prayerful 
spirit, and in emergencies of any sort he took time 
to lift his heart in prayer. 

For patriotism his record is unsurpassed in the 
annals of the world. Let us consider this briefly. 
We have no definite information concerning the 
amount of his salary while in the service of the king; 
but we know enough about the opulence, the luxury, 
and the munificence of the ancient Persian kings to 
affirm that the royal cupbearer received a magnificent 
salary — thousands of dollars per annum. The serv- 
ice required was so light as to make the place desir- 
able on that account. 

Because of the cupbearer's close relations with the 
king, the position was deemed preeminently honor- 



104 NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 

able and was, therefore, much sought after by young 
men of wealth and high rank. Moreover, one might 
hold the place for life, unless he should displease the 
king. Such a position in the most splendid and lux- 
urious royal court on earth Nehemiah renounced at 
the bidding of patriotism. 

He might have made the governor's office pay a 
large salary, and under ordinary conditions he would 
unhesitatingly have done so ; but on account of the 
impoverished condition of the masses of his country- 
men he voluntarily relinquished his salary. More- 
over, as previously stated, he fed at his table every 
day one hundred and fifty of his countrymen, be- 
sides a multitude of visitors from abroad. A little 
figuring will show that this entailed an expenditure 
of many tens of thousands of dollars per annum. 
This policy he pursued during the twelve years of 
his first administration, and it is highly probable that 
he continued to do so during the still longer term of 
his second administration. I repeat that for patri- 
otic self-abnegation his record is unsurpassed in the 
annals of the world. 

The supreme lesson of Nehemialrs career comes 
from the opening prayer scene. It took that long 



NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. IO5 



period of mourning and weeping and fasting to en- 
able him to get the consent of his will that God 
should — do what? — that God should answer his 
prayers through himself. Then he had power with 
God. 

Here is a lesson for all mankind. To make a 
prayer that God will delight to honor we must be 
willing that he shall answer in part through our- 
selves — our time, our energies, our resources. He 
who prays to God to feed the hungry and clothe the 
naked must be willing that God should answer in 
part through his bank account. He who prays for 
the evangelization of the heathen world is mocking 
God unless he is willing to do his part for the fur- 
therance of the manifold interests of the great mis- 
sionary cause. 

One of the attractions of the Bible is its surprises 
— diamonds flashing where we had expected only 
pebbles. This is shown in the case of Nehemiah. 
Reared as he was in the dim twilight of the old 
dispensation, surrounded as he was by the bewitch- 
ing splendors of a superlatively corrupt and luxuri- 
ous heathen court, it was not to be expected that he 
would measure up to the lofty ethical and spiritual 



Io6 NEHEMIAH, THE DEVOUT PATRIOT. 

standards of the gospel. Yet he led a life of spot- 
less integrity and self-denying consecration that is 
unsurpassed in Old Testament history and taught 
by example a lesson on prayer that is worthy to he 
studied by believers through all time. 



VI. 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round 
about the throne and the beasts and the elders : and the num- 
ber of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
sands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." (Rev. v. 
II, 12.) 

The theme which here challenges our attention is, 
"Angels Adoring Christ." 

It is eminently interesting to note the various oc- 
casions on which the holy angels manifested a deep 
interest in the person and in the achievements of 
Jesus of Nazareth. An angel came down from 
above to announce to the heaven-favored virgin the 
approaching birth of her mysterious Son. And when 
the infant Redeemer appeared in the manger of 
Bethlehem wrapped in swaddling clothes and sur- 
rounded by the herds of the stall, there appeared to 
the shepherds as they watched their flocks by night 
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and 
singing: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 

(107) 



io8 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



peace, good will toward men." During the forty 
days of his temptation in the wilderness angels were 
anxious spectators of the mighty conflict; and when 
the conflict was ended and the victory won, they 
hastened to extend to him their congratulations and 
to manifest their sympathies by ministering to his 
wants. Again, when amid the gloom of Gethsem- 
ane he lay suffering and crying beneath the pon- 
derous burden of a world's iniquity and uttered that 
most plaintive, pathetic prayer that ever fell from 
human lips, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup 
pass from me," angels were sympathetic witnesses of 
the unparalleled scene, and their sympathies were 
manifested in some unknown form of active, efficient 
helpfulness. Again, angels were lookers-on during 
the enactment of that most awful tragedy of the 
universe, when the Son of God hung agonizing upon 
the cross between two thieves, now pleading in be- 
half of his murderers, "Father, forgive them," and 
now crying out in a. depth of soul agony which no 
mortal can comprehend, "My God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me?" And when the set time 
had come for him to bind death in chains and lead 
hell captive in his train, even on the morning of the 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. IO9 

third clay, angels waited lovingly around to roll the 
stone away and become the first witnesses of his 
conquest of the grave. And when his mission on 
earth was ended and he ascended on high and "led 
captivity captive," bright angel bands bore him com- 
pany to his Father's "house of many mansions." 
And the Scriptures declare that these hosts of heaven 
shall accompany him when he shall come again at 
the end of the world to "judge the quick and the 
dead." Moreover, amid the sublime visions which 
the immortal seer of Patmos has thrown upon the 
canvass of inspiration we catch glimpses of scenes 
that are to be enacted long after the judgment day 
shall have been numbered among the antiquities of 
the universe. But among all these indescribably 
magnificent scenes that lie hid away amid the ages 
to come, none challenges the attention more imperi- 
ously than do those that are depicted in the language 
of the text : "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of 
many angels round about the throne and the beasts 
and trie elders: and the number of them was ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
sands ; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and w T is* 



no 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



dom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and bless-' 
hag.? 

Now, what does all this signify — this intense in- 
terest in the career of the God-man from the manger 
to the sepulcher, this intimate association with him 
amid the glories of the ascension and the sublimities 
of the judgment, this supreme homage to him in the 
ages far beyond the judgment? Surely all this must 
have some special significance. What is that signifi- 
cance? What is the rationale of angelic adoration 
of the Lamb that was slain? Why should angels 
worship Christ, the crucified? That they will' do 
homage to God, the Creator, it is only reasonable to 
suppose ; but why should they offer any special ado- 
ration to God, the Redeemer? What is there in the 
redemption of this world by Jesus Christ that eclipses 
all other achievements of deific skill and power and 
compels supreme adoration from the loftiest intelli- 
gences in the universe ? 

As a preparation for framing an answer, to this 
great question, let us consider briefly the nature of 
.the holy angels. On this subject the Scriptures. give 
us an amount of information which, while it does 
not meet the demands of abnormal curiosity,, ought, 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



Ill 



nevertheless, to be prized as a rich legacy from our 
Father in heaven. 

First, let us consider their number. "A multi- 
tude," "thousands of thousands," "ten thousand times 
ten thousand," "an innumerable company" — these 
and many similar expressions are used in Scripture 
in speaking of "the heavenly hosts." Such lan- 
guage is not intended to give definite information 
concerning the number of these celestial beings, but 
only to convey the idea that their number is inex- 
pressibly great. It is such language as the astrono- 
mer finds it necessary to use in speaking of the 
number of stars within reach of modern telescopes 
or the naturalist in speaking of the denizens of the 
seas or the population of the microscopic world. In 
all our thinking upon this subject we doubtless fall 
far below the sublime reality. Just as any estimate 
we can form of the number of sands on an ocean's 
shore is necessarily an underestimate, so all ef- 
forts to form a definite idea concerning the multi- 
tude of "the heavenly host" are attempts to fathom 
the unfathomable. If all the sands on an ocean's 
shore and all the leaves in all of earth's forests and 
-all the stars that wheel in space could be enumerated, 



1 12 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



and if these several numbers could be multiplied to- 
gether, this product, inconceivably great though it 
would be, would, I doubt not, be utterly insignificant 
when compared with "the innumerable company" 
who minister to the King of kings. When we think 
of these hosts of heaven, let us do so in the light of 
these Scriptural expressions which show that human 
speech in all its multitudinous languages is utterly 
inadequate to the task of describing the vastness of 
the multitude who dwell in the presence of the great 
"I Am/' 

Another characteristic of angelic beings concern- 
ing which the Scriptures give us light is the variety 
of rank, power, and function that obtains among 
them. That there is not a perfect equality among 
them may be inferred from the various titles given 
them. The Bible speaks of "angels" and "archan- 
gels"; of "cherubim and seraphim"; of "thrones, 
principalities, and powers"; of "princes and chiefs 
of princes" ; of "sons of God" and "morning stars"; 
and uses other terms which need not here be speci- 
fied. Now, while some of these terms, may be mere 
synonyms used for the sake of linguistic variety, it 
is certain that all of them are not so. There is a 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. II3 

difference between angels and archangels, between 
princes and chiefs of princes, and there are others of 
these terms that indicate diversity of rank. More- 
over, there are passages in which certain angels are 
represented as exercising functions which indicate 
superiority. 

Now, this diversity is only what the analogies of 
nature would lead us to expect. Variety character- 
izes all the handiwork of Deity. Think of the vari- 
ous races, tribes, tongues, faces, customs, and pecul- 
iarities of the human race. Think of the multitudi- 
nous forms of animal and vegetable life, including 
the teeming millions of the microscopic world. I 
say, think of all this and then remember that per- 
haps all this marvelous multiformity is but a feeble 
type of the infinite diversity that characterizes the 
life of heaven. 

Concerning the powers which these exalted beings 
are able to exercise, the Scriptures give us informa- 
tion which we should not lightly esteem. It is clearly 
taught that they can wield a superhuman power over 
the forces of nature. We are not left simply to in- 
fer this from those passages which speak of them 
as "mighty," "powerful," "excelling in strength," 
8 



H4 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



etc. ; but works are ascribed to them which vastly 
transcend the loftiest powers of the human race. 
The stopping of the mouths of lions, the bursting 
of ponderous prison doors, the destruction of the 
hosts of Sennacherib — these are instances of the 
mighty achievements which to them are but Lillipu- 
tian tasks. How insignificant are the powers of a 
worm when compared with those of a man! Yet 
more utterly feeble are the highest human powers 
when compared with those of the hosts of heaven. 

From what has already been said, it is evident 
that they possess powers of locomotion that are mar- 
velous. The destruction of the first-born in Egypt 
was the work of an angel. Remember that Egypt 
at that time contained a population of many mil- 
lions. Remember that the first-born, both of man 
and beast, were slain in every family. Think of 
the vast area covered by this immense population. 
What an idea does this give us of the speed with 
which these celestial beings can move from place to 
place! Nor does this exhaust the teaching of Holy 
Writ on this subject. In the days of Daniel an an- 
gel accomplished the journey from heaven to earth 
almost in an instant (Dan. ix.). Now, of course 



ANGELS ADORIXG CHRIST. II5 

no one can point out the precise locality of the "New 
Jerusalem." But it is certain that heaven is a place 
as well as a state, and it is also certain that this ce- 
lestial spot is incalculably remote from our terrestrial 
dwelling place. Xo one, I suppose, will attempt to 
locate the city of the King of kings anywhere with- 
in the confines of our solar system. It may lie far 
beyond the remotest region pierced by the most pow- 
erful earthly telescope. Xow, according to the esti- 
mate of one of the most eminent American astrono- 
mers, some of these telescopic stars are so remote 
that their light, traveling with the amazing velocity 
of a hundred and eighty-five thousand miles per 
second, cannot reach the earth in less than thirty 
million years. Xow, think of heaven as lying be- 
yond all these telescopic stars and then think of an 
angel as coming from heaven to earth almost in an 
instant. What an idea do we get of the locomotive 
powers possessed by these messengers of God ! Will 
any one contend that this is absurd ? I, for one, can 
see no absurdity in the thought that God can create 
a living being that is capable of more rapid motion 
than light or any other materialistic thing or force. 
Let us next make inquiry concerning the age of 



Il6 ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 

these exalted beings. The Book of Genesis gives no 
account of their creation. The Book of Job, how- 
ever, informs us that they were already in existence 
when the earth was created and that they "sang to- 
gether" and "shouted for joy" when its "founda- 
tions were laid." Now, in order to comprehend the 
full significance of this statement, it is necessary to 
get rid of the idea that the earth was created only 
six thousand years ago. True, only six or eight or 
ten thousand years may have passed since man was 
created, but it is an unquestionable fact that the 
earth was in existence long anterior to the creation 
of man. To define the period which has intervened 
since the earth was brought into existence is a task 
to which human faculties are inadequate. This 
much, however, it behooves me to say : that geology 
has enlarged our views concerning the past duration 
of the material universe as greatly as astronomy has 
expanded our conceptions of the extent of space. 
As imagination in her loftiest flights has never suc- 
ceeded in measuring the mighty extent of the mate- 
ria! universe, so imagination is likewise unequal 
to the task of grasping the stupendous sweep of time 
that intervenes between us and creation's morn. Old 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



117 



ocean's drops, perhaps, are fewer than the millen- 
niums that have rolled away since first the omnific 
voice of the Infinite broke the awful silence of eter- 
nity with the sublime words, "Let there be light." 

Now, bearing in mind the stupendous periods of 
time covered by their existence, and remembering 
what has been said about their marvelous powers of 
locomotion and their power over the forces of na- 
ture, let us inquire, What is the extent of the knozvl- 
edge of angels? 

Remember that from heaven, their lofty dwelling 
place, it is as easy for them to wend their way to any 
other spot in the universe as to our terrestrial globe. 
Remember that our earth is but one of an innumer- 
able host of worlds. Remember that many other 
worlds are doubtless inhabited by as great a variety 
of sentient beings as our own and may furnish as 
sublime displays of all the natural attributes of 
Deity. Remember that the holy angels find exalted 
pleasure in contemplating the perfections of the 
Most High as they are displayed in his works and 
ways. Remember that their bodies, unlike ours, 
never grow weary, never need to be strengthened 
by food and invigorated by slumber. Remember 



Il8 ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 

that they spend a large part of their time in the pur- 
suit of knowledge — a knowledge of God in nature 
and in providence. I say: Remember all this and 
then tell me what is the extent of their knowledge. 
After they have employed such Godlike powers for 
millions of ages in studying God's works and ways 
in millions of worlds, how shall we estimate their 
wisdom? It is an impossible task. Our mightiest 
imaginings fall immeasurably below the reality. 

I come now to the sublime truth announced in 
the text, to a consideration of which all I have hith- 
erto said has been preparatory. With all these truths 
concerning the nature of the holy angels fresh in 
our minds, we are better prepared to comprehend 
the vast import of the statement that these exalted 
beings offer highest adoration to "trie Lamb that 
was slain." What a thought! How apparently in- 
credible! What? These celestial beings who for 
untold millions of ages have "seen the King in his 
beauty" and studied his character as it is manifested 
in the vicissitudinous histories of millions of worlds 
and millions of races — are they to find some new 
cause for adoration in any event that takes place in 
this poor little sin-cursed, sin-polluted planet ? Yes ; 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. II9 

that is the teaching of the Book. In i Peter i. 12 
we find this language: "Which things the angels 
desire to look into." The things here referred to 
are the things pertaining to the atonement. Next, 
read Ephesians iii. 10: "To the intent that now unto 
the principalities and powers in heavenly places 
might be made known through the Church the mani- 
fold wisdom of God." "Principalities and powers" 
here means angels of all ranks, from the highest to 
the lowest. The manifestation of wisdom here spok- 
en of is the redemption of the human race through 
the mediation of Jesus Christ. So- by bringing these 
two passages into juxtaposition we have the state- 
ment that the angels in heaven take delight in con- 
templating the redemptive work of Christ, because 
by such contemplation they acquire vast stores of 
knowledge concerning the divine character. Now 
read Ephesians i. 10 : "That in the dispensation of 
the fullness of time he might gather into one all 
things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which 
are on earth." Notice that all things in heaven and 
in earth are to be gathered into one through Christ. 
Angels in heaven and men on earth are to be unified, 
and Christ is to be the bond of union. In connec- 



\ 



120 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



tion with this read Colossians i. 20: "And, having 
made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to 
reconcile all things unto himself ; by him, I say 
whether they be things in earth, or things in heav- 
en." The word which is here rendered "heaven" 
should be rendered "heavens." The term includes 
all worlds, without limitation as to space. The word 
which is here rendered "reconcile" does not neces- 
sarily signify previous alienation. Its significance 
may be anticipative as well as retrospective. Alien- 
ation prevented may be as properly described by the 
term as alienation destroyed. Hence we have here 
the statement that the atonement is to so operate as 
to prevent alienation from God among the hosts of 
heaven. The atonement is to have an effect not only 
upon sin as an existing fact, but also upon sin as one 
of the possibilities of free moral agency. It is not 
only a panacea for moral ailments, but also a preven- 
tive of them. 

Now, take all these passages of Scripture in con- 
nection with my text, and the conclusion is absolute- 
ly irresistible that the atonement has a far higher 
significance than men are wont to allow it ; that it is 
a matter of vast moment not to man alone, but also 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



121 



to the angels in heaven and to other sinless beings 
everywhere. I have no patience with the stupidity 
of those so-called orthodox commentators and the- 
ologians who explain away these passages and make 
them mean almost nothing simply because they can- 
not see how the angels in heaven can become bene- 
ficiaries of Christ's atoning work. I respectfully 
submit that this is not a proper attitude toward the 
Word of God. It is the province of reason to as- 
certain the significance of the language of Scripture 
and then to accept its statements as true, no matter 
how much of mystery they may involve. Either, 
then, we must discard the Scriptures, or else we 
must believe that the holy angels are in some way 
beneficiaries of the atonement. But in what way? 

Christ's work is substitutionary and propitiatory. 
The angels in heaven, having never sinned, need no 
propitiatory work in their behalf. How, then, can 
they be benefited by this or any other scheme of 
expiation? This is a question that presents itself 
just here to every philosophical mind. How is this 
question to be answered ? The difficulty in this case 
is that men seem unable to perceive that the atone- 
ment may have a twofold significance. Since 



122 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



Christ's work in behalf of man is unquestionably 
vicarious and expiatory, it is claimed that it must 
have the same substitutionary and propitiatory 
character to all who are its beneficiaries. And since 
the angels in heaven, having never sinned, need no 
propitiatory work in their behalf, it is denied that 
they can become in any way beneficiaries of the 
atonement. But is there not here a baseless assump- 
tion? Has it been proved, can it be proved, that 
the atonement confers benefits upon none except 
those who, being sinners, need a propitiatory sacri- 
fice in their behalf? May not the atonement have a 
double import? While to sinful man it has the sig- 
nificance that is wrapped up in the word "expiation" 
— the meeting of the demands of the law and thus 
making the exercise of mercy possible — may it not 
have quite another significance to those beings who, 
having never sinned, have no need of mercy? To 
attempt a solution of even the most difficult prob- 
lems connected with the lofty utterances of inspira- 
tion is only a legitimate exercise of our rational 
faculties. Let us make the attempt in the case be- 
fore us. I, for one, do not believe the task is a 
hopeless one. As a preliminary step let us ascertain 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



123 



what are the foundations on which all government 
rests. What are the principles that give efficiency 
to legislation? How does authority reach the will 
and thus control the conduct? A careful analysis 
of the principles of jurisprudence reveals the fact 
that all government rests ultimately upon the affec- 
tions of the governed. All human governments 
maintain their existence by an appeal to the fears 
or the regards of their subjects. In the absence of 
both love and fear, authority is trampled upon. No 
government can long exist when it is neither loved 
nor feared by its subjects, and that government is 
most stable and most powerful which can most 
strongly appeal to both these affections. A govern- 
ment which is both loved and feared by its subjects 
is the strongest possible human government. 

Now, this principle applies also to the divine gov- 
ernment. Throughout the whole course of his ad- 
ministration of the affairs of this world Jehovah 
has sought to teach man the lesson that he is a being 
to be loved and also a being to be feared. This is 
the aim and the outcome of revelation. The Bible 
accomplishes the designs of its Author precisely 
in the same degree in which it impresses this truth 



124 



AX GELS ADORING CHRIST. 



upon the heart of humanity. Now, since this is the 
method of all human governments, and since it is 
also the method of the divine government in this 
world, is it not reasonable to suppose that the same 
principle underlies the divine administration of the 
affairs of the entire universe? 

In the material world we do not anywhere find 
laws that are local or partial or changeable. No 
law of matter that is operative on earth has been 
found to be inoperative in other parts of the uni- 
verse. On the contrary, the laws of chemical affin- 
ity and the laws that regulate the transmission of 
light and many other laws which are in operation 
on earth are also in operation in the remotest world 
revealed by science. Now, since the laws of matter 
are universal and immutable, is it not reasonable 
to suppose that the laws of mind are also? Can 
we believe that the principles of God's moral gov- 
ernment are affected by the vicissitudes of time or 
the accidents of place? Is the obligation to speak 
the truth restricted to the inhabitants of this mun- 
dane sphere? Can we believe that God has enjoined 
falsehood as a duty upon moral beings anywhere? 
'Can virtue be transformed into vice or vice into vir- 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



125 



tue by any possible lapse of time or change of place? 
He who thinks so has yet to learn the very cardinal 
principles of our holy religion. The moral as well 
as the material laws of the universe are as change- 
less as the divine existence. Now, apply this to the 
subject under consideration. In this world the di- 
vine government maintains its existence and extends 
its sway through the operation of love and fear. 
Does God maintain his authority in other worlds in 
a different way? Can we conceive of virtuous be- 
ings anywhere that neither love God nor fear him? 
The angels in heaven and intelligent beings every- 
where are like ourselves, free moral agents — free to 
stand and free to fall. Angels are no more kept 
from sinning by a direct, irresistible exercise of 
divine power than are the inhabitants of earth; for 
if so, then their holiness is a necessitated holiness, 
which is a contradiction in terms, an utter absurdity. 
If their allegiance to the divine government is to be 
maintained forever, it must be through the operation 
of love and fear. Well, is there in all the universe 
anything that can so powerfully appeal to both these 
affections as can the facts connected with the atone- 
ment? Is it desired to utilize fear as a motive? 



126 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



How can this be done so successfully as by pointing 
to the cross ? There are those who tell us that mer- 
cy is the darling attribute of the Most High, that 
God is too good to punish sin. What answer can 
these would-be theologians make to the mighty ar- 
gument of Calvary? 

Look upon the scene. Jehovah has promulgated 
wise and beneficent laws and has proclaimed with 
trumpet tongue : "The soul that sins shall die." 
Knowingly, willfully man transgresses these man- 
dates of his Creator and thus defies the authority 
of heaven. The sword of divine justice is uplifted, 
ready to descend in merciless strokes upon the vile 
rebel, when, lo ! a daysman appears and cries : "Stay 
thy hand. Let the culprit go. I will be his substi- 
tute. I will bear his punishment." Rapidly, merci- 
lessly the sword descends, and the Sinless for the 
sinner dies. 

Now, is there not here an eternal answer to the 
vain dream of Universalism ? Surely if God were 
such a being as men have imagined him to be, then 
he would have had compassion on this innocent sub- 
stitute. But no. Although that substitute was his 
own Son, beloved with a love which no human heart 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



12/ 



can measure, yet when that Son became a substitute 
for sinful man he must die. The dreadful, inde- 
scribable agony in the garden is insufficient. The 
plaintive, pathetic prayer, "Father, if it be possible, 
let this cup pass from me," avails not. The cup 
must be emptied to its dregs. The penalty must be 
endured. Here, then, is the strongest possible ex- 
pression of God's hatred of sin, the mightiest possi- 
ble appeal to the all-powerful motive of fear. If 
God spared not his own Son when that Son became 
a substitute for sinning man, we surely cannot pre- 
sume that he will spare the evildoer himself who 
revels and g-lories in transgression. 

Again, is it desired to utilize love as a motive? 
How can this be done so successfully as by pointing 
to the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world"? Just here it becomes necessary to get rid 
of an error that has found a lodging place in the 
public mind. There are those who seem to believe 
that all the love that is displayed in the atonement 
is the love of the Son; that the Father had no feel- 
ings but those of anger toward the sinner until the 
Son by his mediation conciliated him. This is not 
the teaching of Scripture. "God so loved the world, 



128 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



that he gave his only-begotten Son." The Father's 
love was antecedent to the Son's mediation and was 
the originating cause thereof. This is the uniform 
teaching of Scripture. 

Behold, then, the matchless love that is here dis- 
played. Man has sinned, has willfully transgressed 
the commands of his Creator. He has, therefore, no 
claims upon the divine clemency. Were the penalty 
visited upon him to the fullest extent, no charge of 
injustice could be made. And God has no personal 
interests to subserve by interposing in man's behalf. 
Does he need the poor praises that mortal lips can 
sing? Nay, verily. Possessing every possible per- 
fection, wielding all the immeasurable resources of 
omnipotence, and receiving continually highest ad- 
oration from the loftiest intelligences in the universe, 
no argument is needed to prove that he is supremely 
happy. God's love for man, then, is disinterested 
love. How wonderful! He who inhabits eternity, 
he whose presence fills all space, he whose hand 
sustains the mighty fabric of universal nature, he 
in whose presence archangels bow in meekest ado- 
ration — he exhausts the wisdom of omniscience and 
tasks the resources of omnipotence in order to de- 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



129 



vise a plan which shall save a poor, weak, guilty 
wretch from the consequences of his own voluntary 
evildoing. Surely this is the highest reach of divine 
beneficence. 

The atonement, then, is worthy to be studied by 
the angelic hosts above as well as by the denizens 
of this sin-cursed planet, for in it the character of 
God is revealed in an aspect that is new and tran- 
scendently glorious. 

"The first archangel never saw- 
So much of God before." 

"Here the whole Deity is known, 
Nor dares the creature guess 
Which of the glories brighter shone, 
The justice or the grace." 

That God hates sin with a bitter, unrelenting, in- 
eradicable hatred, and that at the same time he loves 
the sinner with a love that is boundless and inex- 
pressibly tender — these two truths are eloquently 
proclaimed on almost every page of the sacred Book, 
but nowhere do they find expression as. on the cross. 

Do you wish to have a vivid .realization of God's 
attitude toward sin? ;Do you wish to; measure the. 
intensity of God's hatred toward, this, the only thing 
9 



130 ANGELS ADORING CHRIST, 

in the universe that God does hate ? Then go to the 
cross. Gaze upon the death throes of the Son of 
God. Nothing less than this can express God's 
hatred of sin, and a mightier expression Omnipo- 
tence cannot make. 

On the other hand, is it desired to sound the 
depths of divine benevolence, to form something 
like an adequate conception of the strength and 
tenderness of the Father's love toward all his intel- 
ligent creatures? Then, again, go to the cross. A 
love that "lays aside its diadem of high divinity, 
hangs its mantle of supreme authority upon the 
sky," and stoops from heaven to earth and from 
earth to the grave, in order that a race of vile reb- 
els may be able to walk the gold-paved streets of 
the New Jerusalem, robed in spotless white and 
wearing a victor's crown — surely this is a love that 
is "unspeakable." 

In the atonement, then, there are lodged the ma- 
terials for the mightiest appeals to both love and fear 
that even Omniscience can devise. 

Let us suppose, therefore, that far out in the soli- 
tudes of space a new world has been created and that 
on it there has been placed a race of intelligent, ac- 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 



countable beings, pure and sinless. Now, how can 
that race be most effectually protected from the 
ravages of sin? How can they be most strongly 
fortified against the assaults of temptation? We 
have seen that love and fear are the motives to 
which authority must appeal in order to reach the 
will and thus control the conduct. We have also 
seen that the atonement furnishes the mightiest pos- 
sible appeals to both these affections. 

Suppose, then, that the same "multitude or the 
heavenly host" that sang "Glory to God in the high- 
est" over Bethlehem's plains or some other band of 
celestial spirits are sent to declare to these new im- 
mortals the story of the cross. They portray man 
in his primeval innocence and purity, living under 
laws beneficent and salutary and reveling in all the 
delights of Paradise. They rehearse the tragic story 
of man's temptation and disobedience. They de- 
scribe in matchless rhetoric the direful consequences 
of the fall. They discourse as only angels can upon 
the horrors of "the death that never dies." They 
then speak of the great Father of all and describe in 
celestial strains that boundless love that seeks to 
save the lost. They show that only Omniscience 



132 ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 

could devise a plan that should rescue man from his 
awful doom without doing detriment to the author- 
ity of heaven. They sketch that plan and delineate 
its fulfillment. They rehearse the marvelous story 
of supreme divinity incarnating himself and walking 
through Gethsemane's gloom and Calvary's horrors 
to the grave, in order that wicked, rebellious man 
might enjoy the bliss of heaven throughout eternity. 
I say : Suppose all this is to be proclaimed to these 
newly created beings. What would be the result? 
Would it not prevent their sinning? Of course they 
have power to sin; for they are free agents, and 
free agency implies this. But what are the proba- 
bilities? Is it not extremely improbable that they 
will ever yield to temptation ? Knowing that man's 
doom was averted only by the awful tragedy of 
Cavalry, would not the very thought of transgres- 
sion thrill them with horror? With a full knowl- 
edge of the fact that "God spared not his own Son," 
when that Son became a substitute for sinning man, 
the. tempter's lie would be contradicted beforehand. 
No doubt could ever arise concerning God's attitude 
toward sin. Thus we see that the atonement makes. 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. 1 33 

the strongest possible appeal to the motive of fear, 
even among" beings that are pure and sinless. 

At the same time it makes an appeal equally 
strong to the still more powerful motive of love. 
That boundless, ineffable love that is symbolized by 
the cross cannot fail to awaken a responsive love in 
every pure, un fallen soul. 

Thus the two motives which under all govern- 
ments, human and divine, are relied on above all 
others for the maintenance of authority are appealed 
to by the atonement more powerfully than they can 
be by any other conceivable agency. 

So, then, while the atonement was primarily de- 
vised for mail's benefit, there is no questioning the 
fact that it has a tremendous import to other intelli- 
gences and that it mightily affects their character 
and their destiny. 

Angels delight to contemplate the facts connected 
with the atonement, because by such contemplation 
they get views of the divine character not to be 
obtained elsewhere. 

Well, is it not a reasonable supposition that these 
sinless beings take delight in spreading a knowledge 
of these stupendous facts throughout the universe? 



134 ANGELS ADORING CHRIST, 

They who have so often visited our world, shall they 
not visit other worlds ? They who take such delight 
in studying redemption, shall they not take equal 
delight in talking of redemption? They who so 
joyfully proclaimed the "glad tidings" to earth's 
inhabitants, shall they not find equal joy in pro- 
claiming the same glad tidings to other intelligences, 
whether fallen or unf alien? They who circle round 
the throne with songs of highest adoration, shall 
they not call upon others to swell the mighty an- 
them ? 

How glorious the thought that as in physics, so 
in morals ! Our "earth, though but an atom in im- 
mensity, is immensity itself in its revelations of 
glorious truth." 

How it thrills the soul to contemplate the fact that 
our earth, insignificant though it is in comparison 
with many of the worlds that circle through the 
heavens, may be regarded by "the principalities and 
powers in heavenly places" as the most sacred spot 
in the universe outside of the jasper walls of the 
city of the great King! The first-born sons of 
light may regard it as an inestimable privilege 
to be permitted to visit the diminutive world on 



ANGELS ADORING CHRIST. I35 

which the sublimest tragedy of the universe was 
enacted. The loftiest intelligences in the universe 
doubtless have upon their lips the name of that 
world which God chose as the theater on which 
to make the sublimest possible display of the su- 
pernal glories of his nature. To study that dis- 
play of the divine perfections and to propagate a 
knowledge of these stupendous transactions through- 
out the universe is the sublime employment of these 
"hosts of heaven" ; and a knowledge of this cleific 
scheme becomes in every pure, un fallen soul the 
mightiest safeguard against temptation. 

Yes, my brethren, these celestial spirits shall for- 
ever adore "the Lamb that was slain." When the 
cycles of human history shall all have been com- 
pleted, when the echoes of the resurrection trumpet 
shall have died away, when the scenes of the judg- 
ment shall have become themes for antiquarian re- 
search, there shall still be heard reverberating from 
the jasper walls the voice of "ten thousand times 
ten thousand angels, saying, Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wis- 
dom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and bless- 
ing." 



VII. 



SEEKING THE LOST. 

"And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man 
of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth 
not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after 
that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found 
it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he com- 
eth home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying 
unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which 
was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven 
over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine 
just persons, which need no repentance." (Like xv. 3-7.) 

The neighborliness here portrayed merits atten- 
tion. In a large city oftentimes a man does not 
know the name of his nearest neighbor ; or, if he 
knows his name, that is about all he does know con- 
cerning this so-called neighbor. Here we have a 
small rural community all of whose inhabitants are 
engaged in the same employment, that of shepherds. 
Each knows all about his neighbors and has a vital 
interest in them and their affairs. One of these 
shepherds who owns a hundred sheep loses one. 
The missing sheep may be the least valuable one in 

(136) 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



137 



the flock, probably a delicate lamb, which is fre- 
quently sick and needs constant care. Yet, although 
he has no one to look after the flock in his absence, 
he leaves the ninety and nine and goes in search of 
the wanderer. The search is long-continued and 
toilsome, yet there is never a thought of giving up. 
On and on he goes until he finds the wandering lamb- 
kin, prostrated from sheer exhaustion. To lead it 
or to drive it is impossible. So he takes it up ten- 
derly and carries it in his arms all that long distance 
through the rugged wilderness to his home. He 
ministers kindly to its wants; and then from the 
door of his humble home he calls aloud to his near 
neighbors, tells them of his good fortune, and asks 
them to come over. Quickly they come and listen 
with deep interest to the details of his search and 
congratulate him on his well-earned success. 

The phases of pastoral life thus portrayed are 
here used by our Lord to teach one of the greatest 
truths in the kingdom of God. Let us inquire who 
is represented by the shepherd. Were we to answer, 
"Jesus Christ is represented," we would speak truly ; 
but this would not express the whole truth. The 
shepherd represents the Triune God — the Father, the 



138 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



Son, and the Holy Ghost. Who is represented by 
the wandering sheep ? Primarily, the human race. 

A most striking representation this is of God's 
loving efforts to save sinful man. This is the sig- 
nificance of the incarnation. The one purpose of 
God in sending his Son into the world to assume a 
human form and lead a toilsome, suffering life and 
die an ignominious death was to rescue man from 
the wilderness of sin and bring him into the heaven- 
ly fold. And this is the purpose of all the agencies 
of grace — the Bible, the Church, etc. 

But, while all this wealth of glorious truth is 
contained in this wonderful parable, this is not the 
specific truth which our Lord here aims to teach. 
The shepherd's search was not for a flock, but for 
one sheep ; and the rejoicing at his home-coming was 
not over the recovery of a number of sheep, but over 
one rescued wanderer. So God has not only made 
provision for saving the whole human race, but he 
strives diligently and persistently to save the indi- 
vidual sinner. This is the unmistakable meaning of 
the parable. 

In what way does God work in behalf of the in- 
dividual sinner? Through the instrumentality of 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



139 



the Holy Spirit, whose work is symbolized by the 
"still small voice." 

To whom does the "still small voice" speak? 
Does it speak only to a favored few of the human 
race? Nay, verily; it speaks to every man of wom- 
an born. I do not need to enter upon any process 
of argumentation to prove this. All I need to do is 
to ask each of you, my hearers, to turn your eye in- 
ward and scrutinize the states and operations of 
your own heart and turn your eye backward along 
the track of your own existence. Man of the world, 
you who have hitherto disregarded the counsels of 
the Most High and trampled his precepts under your 
feet, I challenge you. Answer me honestly. Have 
there not been times when there have come into 
your mind without your bidding thoughts of God 
and duty, of death and judgment, of heaven and 
hell ? And have not these grave thoughts remained 
with you in spite of your most persistent efforts to 
dislodge them? You know that they have. They 
have sometimes haunted you amid the cares and 
activities of business life. They have been with you 
as you have rolled and tossed upon a sleepless bed 
in the silent watches of the night. Even the noise 



140 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



of mirth and the giddy whirl of pleasure have been 
unable entirely to banish them. And when disap- 
pointment has thrown her gloomy pall around you 
and you have been made to drink the bitter waters 
of bereavement, then these grave reflections have 
asserted their presence with renewed vigor. Now, 
whence come these thoughts? And why are they 
so hard to dislodge? What holds them as with 
hooks of steel in a chamber where they are unwel- 
come guests? And why do they persist in returning 
to be a perpetual torment ? Ah ! they are the voice 
of God speaking to the individual soul concerning 
its highest interests. 

Now, here in this agency of the Holy Spirit we 
have the character of God revealed in its most glo- 
rious aspect. Everywhere else God's beneficent work 
is general, not special. I mean that his gracious 
provisions are for the race and not for any particu- 
lar individual. This is true of the Bible. From the 
beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation there 
is not a line that was written for me especially. In 
all the utterances of this glorious evangel of love I 
am only a partner with the rest of the human race. 
This is true even of that wondrous display of divine 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



141 



beneficence that is symbolized by the cross. Jesus, 
the Son of God, suffered and died for me, but not 
for me alone. There is not a drop of the blood that 
flowed on Calvary over which I can claim a monop- 
oly. Every other descendant of Adam through all 
time has as much interest in that all-atoning blood 
as myself. And this is. true of all the other agencies 
of grace. In them all God works in a general way — 
works for the race and not for any particular indi- 
vidual. But when we come to the activities of the 
Holy Spirit, the work is no longer general, but spe- 
cial. When the "still small voice" spoke to Elijah on 
Horeb's rugged side, its message was not for the 
human race, not for the Israelitish nation, not for 
any of the tribes of Israel, but for Elijah alone. In 
like manner, when the "still small voice" speaks to- 
day, its message is not for any aggregation of men, 
but for one particular individual. Xo man, no an- 
gel, no created intelligence has any personal interest 
in that message save that one soul. 

What a wonderful thought ! Think who God is 
and what he is. We are told that "God inhabits 
eternity." Try to .comprehend that thought. Rise 
upon imagination's wings : ancb go back to the ,_-days : 



142 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



of man's primeval innocence. God is there. Go 
back millions of ages farther still to the period when 
the sons of God sang together and shouted for joy 
over the creation of a. new world. God is there. 
Go back multiplied millions of ages farther still to 
a period when there is not a single world or atom 
of matter in existence, when no angel's song has 
ever enlivened the solitudes of infinite space, when 
no ray of light has ever illuminated the awful gloom 
of eternal night. God is there. Go back, back, 
back trillions of ages farther still until imagination, 
with all her Godlike powers, is utterly exhausted, 
and you are no nearer the beginning of God's ex- 
istence than when you started. Then turn your eyes 
forward. Try to measure futurity. It is an impos- 
sible task. Eternity to come is as boundless as 
eternity past. God has always existed; he always 
will exist. Now, this august Being who "inhabits 
eternity" puts forth special volition in behalf of the 
individual soul. 

Again, we are taught that God is omnipresent. 
Try to comprehend that thought. Endeavor to form 
an estimate of the extent of space. The distance of 
the sun from the earth is so great that a railroad 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



143 



train traveling at the rate of five hundred miles a 
day could not reach it in less than five hundred 
years. Neptune, the outermost planet of our solar 
system, is thirty times farther from the sun than 
the earth is; so it would take a railroad train thirty 
times five hundred years, or fifteen thousand years, 
to go from the sun to Neptune. Outside the orbit 
of Neptune there stretches away a vast tract of 
empty space more than twenty trillions of miles in 
extent. How long* would it take your lightning 
express train to cross that vast abyss and reach the 
nearest fixed star? Two hundred and twenty-six 
thousand times five hundred years, or one hundred 
and thirty million years. It will give us an impres- 
sive idea of the vastness of stellar distances if we 
consider the length of time it takes for light to tra- 
verse them. 

The velocity of light, you know, is amazing. The 
distance of the sun from the earth, which a railroad 
train cannot traverse in less than five hundred years, 
light traverses in less than eight minutes. Light 
travels so rapidly that it can flash from the North 
Pole and back again fifteen times while your watch 
ticks once. Now, the distance of the nearest fixed 



144 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



star from the earth is so great that its light, travel- 
ing with this amazing velocity, cannot reach the 
earth in less than three and one-fourth years. Oth- 
ers of the stars we see around us are many times 
farther still. 

Hitherto we have been considering the nearest 
stars, those that are plainly visible to the naked eye. 
These, however, are, comparatively speaking, utterly 
insignificant in size. Bring the telescope to your 
aid, and by this you multiply the number of visible 
stars almost immeasurably. The number of these 
telescopic stars is so great that an exact enumeration 
of them is impossible. Nothing more than a rough 
estimate has ever been attempted or ever will be. 
Now, some of these telescopic stars are so remote 
that their light, traveling with the amazing velocity 
of which we have spoken, cannot reach the earth in 
less than thirty million years. Thirty million years, 
traveling with a velocity thirty million times greater 
than that of the fastest railway train! What an 
idea this gives us of the extent of space and the ~ 
vastness of the empire over which Jehovah reigns ! 

But we have not yet reached the limit; - The first 
telescopes were of small magnifying^ power and- 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



145 



hence brought into view only a few new worlds. 
Soon afterwards instruments of greater power were 
constructed, and these vastly increased the number 
of visible stars. Since then improvement after im- 
provement has been made in the telescope, and every 
extensive augmentation of optical power has dis- 
closed in the viewless depths of space countless mil- 
lions of flaming worlds unseen before. Such being 
the case, astronomers believe that if it were possible 
to construct a telescope having a magnifying power 
ten thousand times greater than that of any now in 
existence, the number of visible worlds would be 
proportionately increased. What is a drop of water 
in comparison with the ocean, or a grain of sand in 
comparison with the earth ? Yet ten thousand times 
smaller is that part of the universe which lies within 
the range of telescopic vision when compared with 
that part which lies in those far-off depths of space 
which no telescope has ever penetrated. 

Imagine yourself instantaneously transported by 
some mysterious power to a point far beyond the 
remotest star reached by the most powerful tele- 
scope. Gaze upon yonder star, whose light reaches 
us only after a journey of thirty million years, and 
10 



146 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



ask yourself the question: "What lies before me?" 
The answer is, "Space." Rise upon the pinions of 
imagination and travel with the velocity of the 
lightning's flash and continue your flight for more 
millions of ages than there are drops of water in 
the ocean, and what lies before you? Space. In- 
crease your speed ten thousand fold and go on and 
on and on for more millions of ages than there are 
atoms of matter in the whole visible universe. Have 
you reached the boundaries of space? Why, you 
are no nearer than when you began your flight. 
Space is infinite. It has no boundaries. It is "a 
circle whose center is everywhere and whose circum- 
ference is nowhere." So, then, there is room in 
space for more millions of worlds than human arith- 
metic can compute 01; finite imagination conceive of. 
And since each successive increase of telescopic pow- 
er has revealed worlds unseen before, it is reason- 
able to suppose that greater telescopic power would 
bring into view multiplied millions more. Increase 
your space a thousand fold, and go on and on and 
on for more millions of ages than there are atoms 
of matter in the whole telescopic universe. Would 
you be — I will not say beyond the boundaries of 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



H7 



space, for you can never reach its limits — but would 
you be beyond the boundaries of the material uni- 
verse? Who would venture the rash assertion? 
Doubtless you would find yourself still surrounded 
on every side by countless millions of flaming 
worlds stretching away in every direction far beyond 
the reach of telescopic vision. 

Now, all this space God fills with his presence. 
Over all these worlds he sways an omnipotent scep- 
ter. His hand keeps the machinery of the whole 
universe in motion. And in the picture thrown 
upon the immortal canvas in the parable before us 
we behold God, the eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, 
omnipotent Jehovah, the Creator, Preserver, and 
Ruler of the universe, coming down to this crime- 
filled, sin-polluted earth. What did he come to our 
poor, fallen world to do? To save a nation? No. 
To save a community? No. But he came to seek 
and to save the individual sinner; and when he, the 
King of kings and Lord of all worlds, finds one re- 
pentent wanderer, no matter how low and vile he 
may be, he rejoices, and all the inhabitants of heaven 
rejoice with him. How transporting is the thought ! 
How amazing is the love of Him who, though equal 



148 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



with God and "far above all principalities and pow- 
ers, and every man that is named," yet esteems one 
soul infinitely precious and bestows forgiveness upon 
a despised reprobate like Zacchseus or an abandoned 
creature like the woman of Samaria. 

This truth is strikingly illustrated in Moore's 
"Lalla Rookh." A peri, or fallen angel, is standing 
near the gate of Paradise, listening to the enraptur- 
ing strains of celestial music as they reverberate 
from the jasper walls and roll out upon surrounding 
space and ever and anon, as the gates are left ajar, 
catching beatific glimpses of the glories of the 
blessed. And as she looks and listens she weeps 

To think her recreant race 
Should e'er have lost that glorious place. 

And as she looks and listens she soliloquizes thus : 

"How happy," exclaimed this child of air, 
"Are the holy spirits who wander there 

'Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall! 
Though mine are the gardens of earth and sea, 
And the stars themselves have flowers for me, 

One blossom of heaven outblooms them all. 

Go, wing thy flight from star to star, 
From world to luminous world, as far 
As the universe spreads its flaming wall; 



SEEKING THE LOST. I49 

Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, 
And multiply each through endless years, 
One minute of heaven is worth them all." 

The angel, the keeper of the gate, hears this solil- 
oquy, and his heart is touched with sympathy. So 
gently, tenderly, lovingly he approaches this nymph 
of a fair but erring line and says: 

"One hope is thine. 
'Tis written in the book of fate, 

The peri yet may be forgiven 
Who brings to this eternal gate 

The gift that is most dear to heaven ! 
Go seek it, and redeem thy sin — 
'Tis sweet to let the pardoned in." 

As quick as a thought the peri flies down the blue 
vault of heaven and soars earthward, resolved to 
seek the gift most dear to Heaven and thus obtain 
entrance therein. And as she wings her flight she 
begins to wonder what object it is that Heaven holds 
most dear. Marking the spot where a hero lies 
dying upon the field of battle in the cause of liberty, 
she swiftly descends and catches the last glorious 
drop of his heart's blood ere his noble spirit has fled; 
and with rapid wing she seeks the gates of Para- 
dise, confident of being granted admission. But, 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



alas! she is told that the object she must seek is ho- 
lier far than even a hero's blood. Again she searches 
afar for the priceless gift that will insure entrance 
through the pearly gates of Paradise and has a sim- 
ilar experience. She finds an object which she sup- 
poses must be most precious in Heaven's sight, but 
is again told that she has made a mistake. A third 
time she visits mundane shores. She soars o'er sea 
and land, o'er field and forest, o'er mountain and 
plain, until at last she comes to a spot where nature 
seems to have exhausted herself in an effort to 
produce a landscape of indescribable loveliness. 
There, amid these scenes of sylvan beauty, she be- 
holds a little child engaged in childish sport, singing 
among the wild flowers, weaving them into garlands, 
and chasing the butterflies that flit from flower to 
flower. At last, weary with play, the boy lies down 
upon the grassy carpet. Ere long a weary traveler, 
whose heart and hands are stained with many a foul 
crime, chances upon that lovely spot, dismounts from 
his steed, and flings himself down to rest under the 
shade of a tree. Like the peri, he too watches the 
child in its childish sports. After a time, just as the 
evening sun touches the western horizon, the muez- 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



zin in a neighboring mosque makes his vesper call — 
or, to translate this into our Occidental parlance, the 
church bell in the neighboring village sounds out its 
call to evening prayer. The little child has been 
piously trained. It has been taught that whenever 
it hears that evening bell, wherever it may be and 
whatever its employments are, it must at once kneel 
in prayer. As soon as the familiar sounds fall upon 
its ears the child drops its childish sports and there, 
amid the blooming flowers, kneels upon the fragrant 
sod and folds its hands in prayer. As the sin- 
stained, crime-polluted traveler beholds tha£ innocent 
child at prayer, his memory runs back through years 
of guilt and strife to his own childhood, when he 
too used to repeat with childlike simplicity and faith 
a form of prayer taught by a mother now in heaven. 
He thinks too of the intervening years. Despite his 
pious training, he is a desperately wicked man. He 
has been guilty of every vice and every crime known 
to the long, black catalogue of earth and hell. And 
as he looks upon the scene, vivid visions of the past 
chase through the chambers of memory. He thinks 
of the innocence and purity of his own childhood 
and of his present guilt and wretchedness. While 



152 SEEKING THE LOST. 

he thus meditates upon what he once was, the "still 
small voice" whispers in his soul of a better life, and 
these solemn reflections cause him to shed tears of 
heartfelt repentence. 

And now — behold him kneeling there 
By the child's side, in humble prayer, 
While the same sunbeam shines upon 
The guilty and the guiltless one, 
And hymns of joy proclaim through heaven 
The triumph of a soul forgiven. 

As the disconsolate peri beholds the tear of peni- 
tence trickle down the cheek of that hardened sin- 
ner, she instinctively feels that this must be the ob- 
ject that Heaven holds most dear. So she takes it 
in her hand and soars aloft. She passes sun and 
moon and planets. She crosses the vast abyss where 
comets circle. She passes world after world, system 
after system of worlds, and galaxy after galaxy of 
systems of worlds, and on and on and on she goes, 
until she comes within sight of the jasper walls and 
pearly gates of the city of the great King. As she 
approaches she does not have to pause and knock 
and ask permission to enter. Spontaneously the 



SEEKING THE LOST. 



153 



gates are thrown wide open, and she passes through 
in triumph, singing as she goes : 

"J°y> J°y forever! My task is done — 
The gates are past, and heaven is won." 

I fancy I hear some one say : "This is but a gar- 
land of poetry, a mere figment of the imagination." 
Nay, verily; it contains the very essence of the gos- 
pel of Christ, who is the Good Shepherd. From the 
lips of the Master himself we hear the words: "I 
say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven 
over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety 
and nine just persons that need no repentance." 

Nay, my hearers, it is not mere poetry, but a glo- 
rious, heaven-revealed truth that God, the eternal, 
omnipotent, omnipresent Jehovah, the Creator, Pre- 
server, and Ruler of the universe, comes down to our 
poor sin-cursed planet and strives diligently to save 
each and every individual soul. And when the sin- 
ner repents, no matter how low and vile he may be, 
God rejoices, and all heaven rejoices with him. 



VIII. 



LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 

"What, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great 
thing?" (2 Kings viii. 13.) 

In order to get the exact significance of these 
words, we should consider them in their historic 
setting. This passage stands connected in the sacred 
narrative with the prophet Elisha's visit to the city 
of Damascus. Hitherto Elisha had exercised his 
ministry only upon Hebrew soil. Now, however, he 
comes before us making a tour to the ancient and 
far-famed city of Damascus, the capital and metrop- 
olis of the great kingdom of Syria. Although Eli- 
sha's visit was unheralded and unostentatiously 
made, yet the news of his arrival spread through 
the city with marvelous rapidity. Several events 
conspired to produce this result. In the first place, 
about eight or ten years previously, General Naaman, 
commander in chief of the armies of Syria, a man 
of great military renown and of great influence and 
popularity, being smitten with leprosy, had been 
miraculously cured through Elisha's instrumentality. 

(154) 



LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. I 55 

Subsequently, when Ben-hadad, king of Syria, sent a 
military detachment so strong that it is spoken of as 
"a great host" to capture Elisha, Elisha smote the 
whole force with blindness and then, single-handed 
and alone, marched them to Samaria, the Israelitish 
capital, and delivered them to the Israelitish king as 
prisoners of war. These events, and others of like 
character, had made Elisha's name a household word 
throughout all Syria. And so, when it was known 
that this great wonder-working Hebrew prophet was 
in Damascus, it was but natural that the whole city 
heard the news with intense interest. 

It happened that just at the time of Elisha's visit 
Ben-hadad, king of Syria, was sick. The king at 
once sent an embassy to the prophet to inquire 
whether or not he should recover. This was a 
strange thing for Ben-hadad to do. In the first place, 
he was a worshiper of Rimmon, the Syrian god. 
Then, he had long entertained a most inveterate hos- 
tility to the Israelitish people and also to their reli- 
gion and their God. And his hostility had been most 
intense toward Elisha himself ; so he had sought to 
take the prophet's life. A wonderful change had 
taken place in the king's thought and purpose. 



I56 LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 

Whence this sudden change ? This question can be 
easily answered. The king was sick. A sickbed 
often reverses our judgments, revolutionizes our 
feelings, and subverts our plans and purposes. The 
king sent his message, not by some palace menial 
or military underling, but by General Hazael, his 
most intimate friend and trusted counselor, who had 
succeeded General Naaman as commander in chief 
of the Syrian armies. And not only does he thus 
honor Elisha by sending to him the highest official 
in his kingdom, but he augments the honor by the 
character of the present sent — viz., forty camels' 
burden of the richest treasures of the opulent city of 
Damascus, just such a present as he would have sent 
to a king whom he wished to honor. All Damascus, 
observing this vast treasure-bearing cavalcade, took 
note of the mighty change that had come over their 
king. Reaching the prophet's habitation, General 
Hazael, like the military man that he was, consumed 
no time in preliminaries, but at once stated briefly 
and clearly the purpose of his visit. The prophet 
promptly gave his answer to the king's inquiry, then 
looked upon General Hazael's face with an earnest 
and long-continued gaze, and finally burst into tears. 



LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. I 57 

General Hazael, of course, was greatly astonished 
and very naturally made inquiry as to the cause of 
the prophet's weeping. In reply the prophet solemn- 
ly announced that General Hazael would erelong be- 
come king of Syria, and that during his reign and by 
his authority most atrocious cruelties would be in- 
flicted upon the Israelites, not only upon soldiers 
captured as prisoners of war, but upon noncombat- 
ants, including innocent and helpless women and 
children. 

In reply to this solemn prophetic announcement 
General Hazael used the words which I have chosen 
as a text : "What, is thy servant a dog, that he should 
do this great thing?" There is no reason to doubt 
that these words were spoken with the utmost sin- 
cerity. General Hazael did not at that time believe 
himself capable of such atrocities. Yet Elisha's 
predictions were fulfilled. General Hazael became 
king of Syria and had a reign of nearly half a cen- 
tury, the longest reign in Syrian history. He was a 
man of preeminent abilities, and his reign was a 
remarkably prosperous one. During a large part of 
his reign he might have challenged the world to 
point to a single act of his that could be considered 



I58 LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 

a fulfillment of Elisha's prophecy. But this was 
because temptation in that direction had not arisen. 
During more than thirty years of his reign there was 
peace between Syria and Israel. At last, however, 
war arose, and then he perpetrated those very atroc- 
ities which Elisha had foretold. 

General Hazael did not know himself morally. 
There were depths of iniquity in his heart which he 
had never fathomed. He had capacities for evil- 
doing whose existence he had never suspected. In 
all this he is not unique, but is in the same category 
with all the posterity of Adam. No man knows 
himself morally. Every man has capacities for evil- 
doing that have never been detected by his vision or 
his thought. 

Behold yon tatterdemalion as he goes reeling and 
staggering along the street, babbling nonsense and 
uttering words so foul that you almost wonder 
whether he be a man or a devil. Contemplate that 
bloated form, that flushed face, those bloodshot 
eyes, that beclouded intellect, those dwarfed moral 
sensibilities, that murdered conscience, those hellish 
passions that lift his arm to strike with murderous 
intent her whom once he loved better than his own 



LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 1 59 

life. Whence came this horrid creature? Is he a 
demon from the bottomless pit? Nay; he is our 
brother. He was once a sweet, innocent babe, whose 
childish prattle was the joy of a mother's heart. He 
was once a bright, ambitious, noble-hearted boy, 
looking forward to a career of high endeavor and 
lofty achievement. He was once a man, fair in form 
and upright in deportment, a model in the world of 
business and in social life. What a marvelous 
change! Yet this metamorphosis, more wonderful 
and more appalling than any Ovid ever dreamed 
of, is only what might have taken place in your life 
or mine. With that man's environments, with his 
associations and his temptations, either you or I 
might have had his career. No man knows the 
potencies for evil in his own heart. 

An ambitious young artist once resolved to paint 
a picture of innocence. While thinking about this 
he chanced to see a little child whose face had such 
an expression of sweetness and innocence that he 
asked the mother for a photograph of the child, 
that he might hang it up in his workshop and look 
upon it while painting the contemplated picture. 
The request was granted. When years had rolled 



l6o LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 

away and the, artist had achieved fame and fortune, 
he resolved to paint a picture of guilt. Preparatory 
to this he visited a large prison in order to study 
the faces of some notorious criminals. One of these 
particularly attracted his attention by his counte- 
nance, which wore such an expression of depravity 
and malevolence as he had never seen before. While 
talking with this notorious criminal he ascertained 
the fact that he was once the sweet, lovely child 
whose likeness had so long adorned the walls of his 
studio. Sin had done its logical work of wreck and 
ruin, not only in the moral, but also in the physical 
man. 

Again, suppose we could call back to earth all the 
posterity of Adam who have gone into drunkards' 
graves since the beginning of mundane history, and 
suppose we could gather all these into one assembly. 
That assembly would far exceed in number the pres- 
ent population of the globe. Then suppose this 
question were propounded to each individual : "Was 
it your purpose in the beginning of your career to 
become a drunkard?" What would the answer be? 
There would be only one answer. That would be a 
"No" ringing out like the blast of an archangel's 



LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. l6l 

resurrection trumpet. Not one in all that mighty 
throng ever dreamed in the springtime of life 
that this ignoble career and this awful destiny 
would be his. Like the Syrian general, these chil- 
dren of Adam did not know themselves. I repeat 
that no man knows the potencies for evil that lie 
hidden in the subconscious recesses of his spiritual 
nature. 

These illustrations are sufficient to establish the 
point under consideration. However men may ob- 
ject to the use of certain theological terms, such as 
depravity, original sin, etc., in speaking of human 
nature, it is an undeniable fact that there are in ev- 
ery human heart unsuspected potencies for evil 
which, under favoring conditions, may culminate 
in deeds of appalling turpitude. 

Let us in the next place consider briefly the process 
by which the evil potencies of the heart attain their 
full fruition in deeds of iniquity. 

Character is always a growth; and character de- 
velopment is dominated by fixed laws, just as physi- 
cal development is. I will elucidate this. I once 
knew a man who was noted in the community in 
which he lived as a great walker. He walked a great 
II 



1 62 LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 

deal, and no one in those parts could approximate 
him in either speed or endurance. In the course of 
time this man got into the clutches of the law and 
spent twelve months in prison. When liberated, he 
found that his walking powers were very greatly 
diminished. It fatigued him more to walk a mile 
than it did previously to walk five miles. The cause 
of this is evident. Before his incarceration the mus- 
cles of his lower limbs were kept at their maximum 
of strength, endurance, and agility by daily exercise. 
During his imprisonment these muscles were not 
exercised, and for that reason they lost their 
strength and suppleness. In like manner every or- 
gan of the body is strengthened by exercise and 
weakened by disuse. 

This principle applies not only to every organ of 
the body, but also to every faculty of the mind. 
Memory, reason, imagination, and all other faculties 
attain their maximum development only through 
regular, vigorous exercise. This law also dominates 
our moral nature. Thus through the operation of 
this law a bad man must inevitably grow worse. 
The forces of his nature that make for righteous- 
ness, not being exercised, are constantly growing 



LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 163 

weaker; while the forces that work in the direction 
of evil, being constantly exercised, are growing- 
stronger every day. Thus by a twofold process the 
work of character deterioration is going on, the 
final result of which lies beyond the reach of human 
ken. This being true, there is profound wisdom in 
the adage : "Beware of the beginnings of evil." 

Go in imagination and stand upon the bank of the 
"Father of Waters" at a time when the river is at 
high-water mark. After a time you notice a stream 
about the size of your finger making its way across 
the levee. You go to work to stop that stream. 
Some one says: "O, that stream is so small it can't 
do any harm." Suppose you heed that advice. In 
a little while that stream is as large as your arm. 
A little later it is as large as your body ; and erelong 
it has become a mighty crevasse through which there 
rushes a roaring, raging torrent that inundates the 
country for miles around and destroys millions of 
dollars' worth of property and perhaps many valu- 
able lives. The time to stop that flood was when the 
little stream first began to make its way across the 
levee. Just so when a tiny stream of sinful indul- 
gence first begins to make its way across God's, pro- 



164 LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 

tective levee, a tender conscience, it may just then 
be easily stopped. But let it alone, and after a while 
it will become a mighty, uncontrollable flood of in- 
iquity. 

There is a lesson here for parents, teachers, pas- 
tors, and all who have responsibility for the moral 
training of others. When a railroad bridge has been 
swept away by a sudden freshet and the lightning 
express train comes rattling and crashing and thun- 
dering along at its maximum speed, it is too late to 
whistle "Down brakes" and try to reverse the en- 
gine when it stands on the brink of the precipice. 
Then, although the whistle may sound its shrill notes 
of alarm, and although every brakeman may bestir 
himself with his utmost vigor, the momentum of 
the train is such that, in spite of their efforts, on it 
goes over the precipice, and all that precious cargo 
of human life is engulfed in the turbid waters. The 
time when the whistle should have sounded its notes 
of alarm in order to be effective was when the train 
was hundreds of yards away from that raging flood. 
Just so the time when the alarm should be sounded 
in the ears of the evildoer is not when he stands upon 
the brink of the precipice of moral ruin, but when 



LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 165 

he first starts down grade. The time to sound the 
alarm in the ear of the rum guzzler is not when he 
has become a helpless slave, bound hand and foot 
with the invincible chain of an insatiable thirst, but 
when he first begins his tippling practices. 

So much for the process of character develop- 
ment. A complete view of the subject, however, 
must include the supernatural. The perfecting of 
character requires aid from the realm of the invisi- 
ble. This, however, is available for all, anywhere 
and at any time. He who bows before the mercy 
seat in humble, contrite prayer will receive into 
his soul gracious influences from above that will 
strengthen the good forces of his nature and aug- 
ment his will power, thus giving him a mastery over 
the forces that make for unrighteousness. The ini- 
tial step toward a saintly life should be an indue- 
ment of power through the medium of contrite 
prayer. 

Again, away down in the subconscious recesses of 
man's spiritual nature there are not only hidden 
possibilities of evil, but there are also immeasurable 
potencies for good that are latent to our finite vi- 
sion; and these forces are dominated by the great 



1 66 LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 

law of increase by exercise and decrease by disuse. 
In the heart of a devout man the evil forces, not 
being exercised, are growing weaker da}' by day ; 
while the forces that make for righteousness are 
becoming stronger and stronger with the flow of 
time, and thus by a twofold process he is constantly 
becoming more and more Godlike. Think of John 
Zebedee, who tried to bring down fire to destroy all 
the inhabitants — men, women, and children — -.of a 
certain Samaritan village because their ideas of hos- 
pitality did not accord with his own. Who would 
have believed that that narrow, bigoted, intolerant, 
vindictive creature would become the apocalyptic 
seer, living in loving touch with the great white 
throne, the most perfect embodiment the world ever 
saw of the spirit of our divine Lord? Yet so it was. 

And this process of soul development will not 
terminate at the grave, but will continue on and on 
and on through centuries, millenniums, ages, and 
cycles as long as the great I Am shall continue on 
his throne. And, mark you, this transcendently 
glorious prospect is not restricted to a favored few 
of our race, but is the rightful heritage of every 
man of woman born. Listen. The vilest wretch 



LATENT POTENCIES OF HUMAN NATURE. 167 

that walks the earth, the deepest-dyed criminal, 
if he will repent and put himself in line with the 
agencies of grace, may in the oncoming ages be- 
come the peer of any of the white-robed cherubim 
and swift-winged seraphim that surround the great 
white throne. To make this a possibility was the 
purpose of the coming of the Son of God. No won- 
der heaven's choir came down to earth and sang 
"Glory to God in the highest" over Bethlehem's 
plains when they first caught a glimpse of the signifi- 
cance of the incarnation. 



IX. 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 

"And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, 
Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down 
from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and 
went : and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great au- 
thority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the 
charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to 
worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot, read Esaias 
the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and 
join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and 
heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest 
thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except 
some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he 
would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture 
which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaugh- 
ter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he 
not his mouth: in his humiliation his judgment w T as taken 
away : and who shall declare his generation ? for his life is 
taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and 
said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of him- 
self, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, 
and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 
And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain 
water : and the eunuch said, See, here is water ; what doth 
hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest 

(168) 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, 
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he com- 
manded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both 
into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized 
him. And when they were come up out of the water, the 
Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw 
him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing." (Acts viii. 
26-39.) 

Let us consider the personality of this "man of 
Ethiopia." Some claim that, inasmuch as he was a 
diligent, earnest, and thoughtful student of the Old 
Testament Scriptures, he must have been a Hebrew. 
The premises do not justify the conclusion. Many 
Gentiles in ancient times were laborious students of 
the divine Word. Moreover, if he had been a He- 
brew, the history would have said so. The Bible 
speaks of many Hebrews who were reared in far-off 
heathen lands, but in no case are we left in doubt as 
to their nationality. Ezra,, Nehemiah, Esther, and 
Ezekiel are cases in point. So we think it unques- 
tionable that our painstaking historiographer, Dr. 
Luke, is stating a fact when he writes "a man of 
Ethiopia" — i. e., an Ethiopian. 

But what is the meaning of the word Ethiopia as 
here used ? Some suppose that an Ethiopian is nec- 



I/O 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



essarily a negro. This is an egregious error. Ethi- 
opia in ancient times was a country of vast extent 
lying just south of Egypt. It extended from the 
Sahara Desert on the west to the Red Sea and the 
Indian Ocean on the east, a distance of more than 
eight hundred miles. From Egypt on the north, it 
extended southward more than a thousand miles — 
nobody knows just how far. 

Within this immense territory there were several 
different races of men. In some sections there were 
negroes, all roving savages. They had no written 
language and built no cities. They built no houses 
and raised no crops. They were divided into numer- 
ous small tribes that were frequently at war with 
one another, and their war captives were sold as 
slaves. In short, they were savages of a very low 
and brutal type. 

But within this vast country called Ethiopia there 
was an extensive region whose inhabitants were of 
a very different type. They were not negroes, but 
were ethnologically related to the Egyptians, the 
Bablyonians, and the Phoenicians. Their habitat was 
along the Nile for about five hundred miles south- 
ward from Egypt. These people were highly civil- 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



I 7 I 



ized, their civilization being of the Egyptian type. 
They had a written language and considerable liter- 
ature. They had numerous temples of worship, 
some of them of colossal size and great splendor. 
They built a number of cities, some of which were 
remarkable for their wealth and magnificence. They 
engaged in agriculture with great success and had a 
large and profitable foreign commerce. 

This nation was for more than seven hundred 
years a great military power, able to contend success- 
fully with all the "world powers" of the age. At 
one period Ethiopia held Egypt in subjection for 
about one hundred years. Even Cambyses, the great 
Persian conqueror, though he defeated them in bat- 
tle and destroyed Napata, their capital city, was un- 
able to subjugate them. 

This nation is sometimes spoken of by the classi- 
cal writers as the "kingdom of Meroe," but the 
name by which it was known among the nations of 
the earth was Ethiopia. It was for many years ruled 
by women, each successive ruler bearing the title 
Candace, which is synonymous with queen. 

Now, it is this great historic nation that here 
comes before us. According to ecclesiastical tradi- 



IJ2 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



tion, the name of the reigning Candace at this time 
was Lacasa, and the name of her treasurer was 
Indich. 

This high official, though reared a pagan, had be- 
come a proselyte to Judaism. This was doubtless 
brought about through the instrumentality of the 
ubiquitous Jewish synagogue with its seventh-day 
services of reading the Word of God and comment- 
ing thereon. 

After his conversion to Judaism, no doubt he had 
to run the gauntlet of many-sided criticism and ridi- 
cule in the official circles in which he moved. But he 
was one of those supremely honest souls who are 
always true to their convictions ; and so he followed 
the light as God enabled him to see the light. After 
a time he resolved to visit Jerusalem, not on a sight- 
seeing or pleasure-seeking- or money-making expedi- 
tion, but in order to worship God. His reverential 
study of the divine Word had awakened in his de- 
vout soul aspirations that could not be satisfied oth- 
erwise than by a visit to the holy city, with its many 
sacred memories and hallowed associations. 

No doubt Queen Lacasa smiled inwardly when 
he revealed to her his purpose to make this pilgrim- 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 1 73 

age, but no objections were interposed. Such a 
journey was no small affair. The distance from 
Meroe, the Ethiopian capital, to Jerusalem by the 
only available caravan route, down the Nile Valley 
and through Gaza, was twelve hundred miles. It 
goes without saying that the treasurer did not travel 
alone. In ancient times, when a high official of a 
great nation went abroad, he was accompanied by a 
military escort. This was a necessity as a protec- 
tion against robbers. Moreover, this much of pomp 
was thought to be due to the dignity of high official 
station. So the picture which here comes before the 
mind's eye is that of a palace magnate seated in a 
splendid chariot and attended by a company of 
mounted soldiers in full military uniform. Xo inci- 
dents are related concerning the outgoing journey 
or the stay at Jerusalem. 

But on the home-coming trip the procession comes 
before us traveling through a desert region a few 
miles southward from Jerusalem. The treasurer, 
seated in his chariot, was holding in his hand a copy 
of the Greek version of the book of Isaiah, from 
which "he was reading aloud. Just then a solitary foot- 
man fell in with the procession and walked alongside 



174 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



the chariot. The passage being read was that con- 
taining the oft-quoted words: "Like a lamb dumb 
before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth.'' 
The footman said to the reader: "Understandest 
thou what thou readest?" The reader confessed 
that he did not and invited the footman to take a 
seat in his chariot. The giving of that invitation 
was a superlatively fortunate act ; for that unknown 
pedestrian was one of the most successful preachers 
of all time, Philip, the evangelist, who had achieved 
the apparently impossible in winning thousands of 
Samaritans to Christ. 

Philip, seated in the moving chariot, began at once 
to expound the scriptures just read and showed that 
Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, in whom" 
all the types and prophecies of Scripture have their 
fulfillment, and that his death was an all-atoning 
sacrifice for human sin. He also showed that 
through Christ, the Lamb of God, we may have not 
only conscious remission of sin, but the regeneration 
of the soul and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as 
a source of heavenly- joy and an equipment for serv- 
ice in the divine kingdom. We have a right to as- 
sume that Philip's sermon included all. this/: for. it 1 - s - 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



i/5 



said that he "preached Jesus'" ; and all this is implied 
in preaching Jesus. 

The "man of Ethiopia'' believed with all his heart 
and asked to be baptized and received into the 
Church. Without the slightest hesitation or delay, 
his request was granted. And so, amid the solitudes 
of the wilderness, while the heathen soldiers looked 
on in wonderment, he confessed his sins, professed 
faith in Jesus Christ, vowed undying allegiance to 
the divine kingdom, and, through holy baptism, was 
enlisted as a soldier of the cross. He then resumed 
his homeward journey with a new-found joy and the 
stirrings of a new life in his soul. 

No further mention of him is made in the Bible, 
but ecclesiastical historians tell us that he became a 
zealous and successful preacher of the glad tidings. 
It is said that Lacasa, the reigning Candace, became 
a convert through his instrumentality. He preached 
and organized Churches throughout the kingdom 
and also in several cities of Arabia. 

This "man of Ethiopia" is a model for all man- 
kind in his loyalty to truth. Many a- man, situated 
as he was, even if convinced of the utter falsity of 
his ancestral' faith, would, nevertheless, not have re- 



I76 LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 

nounced it on account of the storm of criticism and 
ridicule that would ensue. He, regardless of the 
clatter of venomous tongues, when convinced that 
the gods of his fathers were no gods, became a wor- 
shiper of Jehovah and a diligent student of his 
Word. When convinced, by a devout reading of the 
Scriptures, that he owed it to himself and to God 
to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he did so, not- 
withstanding the fact that it required months of his 
time and the expenditure of a large sum of money. 
When it was demonstrated to him on the authority 
of the Holy Scriptures that Jesus Christ is the Son 
of God, he at once accepted him as his personal 
Saviour and asked to be admitted into the Church. 

Just think of it ! To be admitted then and there ! 
It was not the Sabbath day. No ecclesiastical con- 
vocation was in session. No church edifice was 
within reach. They were in the midst of an arid 
desert. How unconventional to administer the rites 
of the Church under such conditions ! But this hon- 
est, earnest soul was not willing that human con- 
ventionalities should stand between him and his duty 
to his loving Saviour. So, instead of waiting for an 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



177 



invitation to unite with the Church, he came in at 
once on his own initiative. 

The true-heartedness which here shines so conspic- 
uously is one of the greatest needs of our fallen race. 
We marvel at the Hebrews of Elijah's day who 
shouted, "The Lord is God," and then built altars to 
Baal. An inconsistency as glaring and a thousand 
times less excusable comes before us day by day in 
the lives of men and women in all the walks of life. 
Interrogate the unsaved masses of all social spheres 
as to their religious status. Will you find that they 
are all infidels? Nay; an overwhelming majority 
of them are theoretically Christians. They accept as 
true all the great verities of our holy religion — the 
existence of God, the certainty of a future state of 
rewards and punishments, the divinity of Jesus 
Christ, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the di- 
vine origin of the Church. Why, then, are they not 
real Christians? Echo answers, "Why?" Just 
think of it ! They believe in God and yet serve the 
devil. They believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of 
God, the Redeemer of mankind, and yet they act as 
if he were the vilest impostor of all time. They be- 
lieve in the Bible as the Word of God and yet prac- 
12 



i 7 8 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



tically repudiate it as a spiritual guide. They believe 
that there is a heaven and hope to get there, and yet 
they persistently refuse to comply with the divinely 
imposed conditions of citizenship therein. They 
fear an awful hell, and yet they are knowingly trav- 
eling thitherward as rapidly as the wheels of time 
can carry them. They believe that God in his infinite 
love founded the Church as the best possible agency 
for saving fallen men from sin and hell ; and yet, in- 
stead of co- working with him in and through the 
Church, they employ their time, their talents, and 
their influence in combating his cause and kingdom. 
A more inexcusable inconsistency it is impossible to 
conceive of. 

Such a course is basely ungrateful and flagrantly 
dishonest toward Almighty God. Translated into 
the form of an address to God, here is the sinner's 
attitude : "O Almighty God, thou omnipotent Crea- 
tor and righteous Ruler of the universe, thou Arbiter 
of the destinies of men, thou who dost shower thy 
benefactions upon me day by day with a lavish hand, 
thou who didst task the wisdom of omniscience and 
exhaust the resources of omnipotence to devise a 
plan to redeem man from the consequences of his 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



179 



own voluntary evildoing, I recognize thy claims 
upon me. I confess that thou art entitled to the 
supreme homage of my heart and the undivided 
service of my life. But, O Lord, I have deliberately 
determined to defy thy authority. Because of my 
love for the pleasures of sin, I will live in rebellion 
against thee through a large part of my life. In 
the distant future, when I lie upon my death couch 
or when my head is silvered with the frosts of many 
winters, then, when I am powerless to be of service 
to thy kingdom, I will surrender and ask thee to for- 
give my sins and save me from perdition. But, O 
Lord, as long as I am able to be a factor in the 
world's affairs, my time, my energies, and my influ- 
ence shall be employed in strenuous warfare against 
thy kingdom." 

Of course no man utters such words in the form 
of an address to Almighty God; but every unsaved 
man who is not an infidel is saying all this by his 
actions every minute of his life. 

O for the spirit of this "man of Ethiopia" ! Some 
years since, after I had pronounced the benediction 
at the close of a Sabbath morning service, a well- 
known lady came rushing down the aisle toward the 



x8o 



LOYALTY TO TRUTH. 



pulpit and said to me : "Dr. Black, I want to join the 
Church." I said: "When?" She replied: "Right 
now. I have waited too long already." I asked the 
congregation to resume their seats and at once 
proceeded to baptize her and receive her into the 
Church. Like our Ethiopian magnate, she made an 
opportunity to unite with the Church. Such in- 
stances, instead of attracting attention by their nov- 
elty, ought to be of frequent occurrence. 

Every unsaved man ought to begin the work of 
squaring his life with his creed, not to-morroiv, but 
to-day. Instead of waiting for a revival meeting or 
some other "convenient season," he ought at once 
to surrender to Christ and become a participant in 
his glorious work. 



X. 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile 
himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine 
which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the 
eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God had 
brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of 
the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Dan- 
iel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat 
and your drink : for why should he see your faces worse liking 
than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make 
me endanger my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Mel- 
zar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, 
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I be- 
seech thee, ten days ; and let them give us pulse to eat, and 
water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon be- 
fore thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the 
portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy 
servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved 
them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances 
appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which 
did 'eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus Melzar took 
away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should 
drink; and gave them pulse. As for these four children, God 
gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: 
and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now 

(181) 



182 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring 
them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in be- 
fore Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; 
and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, 
Mishael, and Azariah : therefore stood they before the king. 
And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the 
king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all 
the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm." 
(Dan. i. 8-20.) 

King Nebuchadnezzar, in prescribing wine as a 
part of the dietary of the pupils in his palace train- 
ing school, was actuated by a desire to benefit those 
pupils. He believed that the use of wine was condu- 
cive to health, strength, longevity, and efficiency in 
life's work, whatever it may be. The sequel showed 
that this opinion was egregiously erroneous. At the 
end of the three years of training Daniel and his 
three Hebrew classmates were found to be healthier, 
stronger, more handsome, and better equipped in 
every way for positions of honor and trust in the 
royal court than were the young men who had used 
wine. Nevertheless, this hoary error has survived 
to our clay. To-day there are those who believe 
that the moderate use of alcoholic stimulants is in 
many ways beneficial to the human body. It is 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



183 



believed that it invigorates the muscular and nerv- 
ous systems and thus increases one's capacity for 
labor, both physical and mental ; that it prepares the 
system for resisting extremes of temperature; that 
it is a preventive of many forms of disease and is 
promotive of health and conducive to longevity. 

Now, the truth of these claims must, like all simi- 
lar hygienic questions, be determined, not by a la- 
bored process of a priori argumentation, but by the 
modern scientific method — i. c, by careful, long- 
continued, widely extended observations of facts. 
This method has been pursued in the case before us, 
and the results have been announced by the very 
highest authorities in the medical world. Let us 
consider these claims separately. 

1. Does alcohol increase the capacity of the human 
system for labor? In reply to this question it is 
admitted that by the use of alcohol a man may so 
stimulate himself as to perform more labor within a 
brief period of time — say an hour or two — than he 
could otherwise have done; but that period of unnat- 
ural excitement and activity will inevitably be fob 
lowed by a period of corresponding depression and 
languor. In such a case there is no increase of 



1 84 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



strength, but simply a drawing upon one's future 
resources of muscle and energy. In order that it 
may be seen how carefully medical men have pro- 
ceeded with a view to arriving at a correct conclusion 
in this matter, I shall give an experiment performed 
by the celebrated Dr. Parkes. I give it in the lan- 
guage of Dr. Andrew Clarke : 

Dr. Parkes got a number of soldiers of the same age, of the 
same type of constitution, living under the same circumstances, 
eating the same food, and breathing the same atmosphere. He 
divided the soldiers into two gangs — an alcoholic and a non- 
alcoholic gang — and he engaged these two gangs in certain 
work, for which they were to be paid extra. He watched 
these two gangs and took the result of their work. It turned 
out that the alcoholic gang went far ahead at first. They had 
buckets of beer by their side, and as they got a little tired they 
took beer, and the nonalcoholic gang were in an hour or two 
left far behind. But he waited and watched. As the experi- 
ment went on, the energies of the beer drinkers began speedily 
to flag; and, do what they would, before the end of the day 
the nonalcoholic gang had left them far behind. When this 
had gone on for some days, the alcoholic gang begged that they 
might get into the nonalcoholic gang, in order that they might 
earn a little more money. So Dr. Parkes, in order to make 
the experiment clinching and conclusive, transported the two 
gangs. He made the alcoholic gang the nonalcoholic, and vice 
versa. The result was just the same. The alcoholic gang beat 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 185 

the nonalcoholic at the starting, but failed utterly toward the 
close of the day. 

Could any test be fairer or more absolutely con- 
clusive ? This is a sample of a multitude of experi- 
ments which have been performed by scientific men 
in order to ascertain the truth in regard to this mat- 
ter. In every case there has been the same result. 
That result is thus stated by Dr. Clarke, above re- 
ferred to: "Alcohol is not only not a helper, but a 
certain hinderer of work." 

This truth is now universally recognized by that 
class of men whose business requires great physical 
strength, endurance, or agility, such as pugilists, pe- 
destrians, oarsmen, swimmers, etc. 

Angus Cameron, the celebrated athlete, who won 
in a multitude of contests, was a rigid teetotaler. 
He firmly believed that his success was largely at- 
tributable to his abstinence. 

Weston, the illustrious pedestrian who in fourteen 
years walked a distance equal to twice the circum- 
ference of the earth, declares that his wonderful 
feats could never be performed under the influence 
of alcoholic stimulants. 

The celebrated swimmer, Captain Webb, attrib- 



i86 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



uted his defeat in several contests to the fact that he 
had used an alcoholic stimulant. 

Hanlan, the famous oarsman, sums up the results 
of his lifelong experience in the following words : 
"The best physical performances can be secured 
only through total abstinence from alcoholic bever- 
ages." 

The man who uses alcohol under the belief that it 
gives him additional capacity for labor, either physi- 
cal or intellectual, is simply behind the times. He is 
a relic of a bygone age of intellectual darkness. 

2. Let us next inquire, What are the effects of 
alcohol in regard to temperature ? Does alcohol in- 
crease the power of resistance to cold? Is it a heat 
producer? Medical science formerly answered, 
"Yes." Now its answer is a tremendous "No." 
An ounce of fact is worth a million tons of fine- 
spun theory. The old notion was the result of fan- 
ciful theorizing; the new is an induction from a vast 
number of facts. In the numerous arctic exploring 
expeditions which have attracted the attention of 
the civilized world it is a simple fact that abstainers 

have withstood the rigors of those high latitudes far 

• 

better than drinkers. The percentage of deaths is 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



187 



far greater among drinkers than among abstainers, 
and the abstainers are far abler to endure fatigue. 

It is also an undeniable fact that the use of alco- 
hol is not only not beneficial, but is positively inju- 
rious in regions that are subject to extremes of heat. 
Comparatively few abstainers die from sunstroke. 
Go to any of our American cities at a time when the 
death rate from sunstroke runs high and make an 
investigation, and you will find that an immense 
percentage is of drinking men. 

3. Let us next consider the question whether the 
moderate use of alcoholic liquors is in any way pro- 
motive of health and conducive to longevity. 

In the first place, we shall take the testimony of 
medical men. Concerning a question of this sort, all 
intelligent people attach great importance to the 
opinions of physicians of large experience and rec- 
ognized ability. 

I shall begin with one of the most eminent sur- 
geons of the British army. Speaking of his experi- 
ence in the British army in India,, Dr. Parke says : 

The Eighty-Fourth Regiment, in which I served from 1842 
to 1850, numbered many teetotalers (at one time more than 
four hundred) in its ranks; and the records of the regiment 



i88 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



show that the teetotalers were more healthy, more vigorous, 
and far better soldiers than those who did not abstain. 

Numerous other army surgeons of distinction 
bear similar testimony, and this professional testi- 
mony is corroborated by that of many illustrious 
military commanders. 

Sir John Hall, who was for a considerable time 
Inspector General of the British army, makes this 
statement : 

The healthiest army I ever served with had not a drop of 
any kind of liquor; and although it was exposed to all the 
hardships of the Kaffir War at the Cape of Good Hope, in 
wet and inclement weather, without tents or shelter of any 
kind, the sick list seldom exceeded one per cent. This con- 
tinued not only through the whole of the active operations in 
the field during the campaign, but after -the men were collected 
in standing camps at its termination. But immediately the 
men were again quartered in towns where they had free access 
to spirits, numerous complaints made their appearance among 
them. 

An overwhelming* mass of testimony of the same 
character has been gathered by Dr. Carpenter from 
India, Brazil, Borneo, and Africa. 

Says Dr. Lees: "All writers on materia medico, 
now rank alcohol among the most powerful and 
fatal of narcotic poisons." 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



189 



Dr. Edwards, of London, says: "We have a great 
horror of arsenic and fifty other things. The fact 
is that all these things are a mere bagatelle in rela- 
tion to the most direct, absolute, immediate, and 
certain poisonings which are caused by alcohol. 
There are more men killed by alcohol than by all 
other poisons put together." 

Dr. Joseph Jones, of New Orleans, who in his day 
stood in the very front rank of the medical profes- 
sion, says : "It can be clearly demonstrated by facts 
that alcohol is the most destructive of all poisons to 
the human race." 

Similar testimony is given by Dr. Benjamin Ward 
Richardson, Dr. William B. Carpenter, Dr. Andrew 
Clarke, and a host of celebrities in the medical world 
too numerous to mention. The cool, unimpassioned 
utterance of twentieth century medical science is 
that alcohol is a deadly poison. 

And strong as this testimony is, we have evidence 
from another source that is stronger still. I refer 
to the records of life insurance companies. In 1850 
the Temperance and General Mutual Assurance 
Company, of London, began to divide its policy- 
holders into two classes — drinkers and abstainers — • 



igO BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 

and to keep separate records with each class. Let 
it be remembered that this is not a comparison be- 
tween abstainers and drunkards, but between ab- 
stainers and moderate drinkers. Insurance compa- 
nies do not take risks on the lives of regular sots. 
Now, the records of this company show that, year 
after year, the death rate among drinkers is larger 
than among abstainers. 

The records of the Temperance Provident Insti- 
tution, another great English insurance company, 
evince the same fact. The death rate of both sec- 
tions varies slightly in different years ; but the aver- 
age difference, running through a number of years, 
is twenty-nine per cent. Just think of it ! For every 
hundred deaths among abstainers there are one hun- 
dred and twenty-nine deaths among drinkers. And, 
mark you, these are temperate drinkers. When these 
men die, the doctor does not say that they died from 
drink He says that they die of apoplexy, paralysis, 
heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, etc. ; and 
the doctor speaks truly. These men do die from dis- 
ease; but how does it happen that five drinkers die 
for every four abstainers? Only one answer can be 
given. These men die because their systems have 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



I 9 I 



been poisoned by alcohol. Had they not used alco- 
hol, they would not have become diseased ; 01% if so, 
their vital force would have been sufficient to with- 
stand the disease. These additional deaths are as 
certainly caused by alcohol as if the men had died 
of delirium tremens. Similar testimony in whole- 
sale quantities can be adduced from the archives of 
various other companies. 

Now, testimony from this source is of the most 
valuable character. Men go into the insurance busi- 
ness with the same motives that prompt them to go 
into any other business. Pecuniary gain is their 
aim. These companies keep separate records with 
drinkers and abstainers simply in order that they 
may know which class it pays best to insure. The 
correctness of these conclusions no sane man can 
question. 

Says Col. Jacob L. Green, who was for many 
years President of the Connecticut Mutual Life In- 
surance Company : 

It has been my duty to read the records of and to make 
inquiry into the last illness and death of many thousands of 
persons of all classes in all parts of the country. . . . 
Among the persons selected with care for physical soundness 



IQ2 BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 

and sobriety, the death rate is more profoundly affected by the 
use of intoxicating drinks than by any other cause apart from 
heredity. . . . Congested brains, insanity, paralysis, pneu- 
monia, rheumatism, and various diseases of the kidneys, liver, 
and stomach are the results of that slow process of blood- 
poisoning that comes from even moderate, orderly, decorous 
drinking. 

Let it be understood that this applies not only to 
distilled liquors, such as whisky, brandy, etc., but to 
wines of all grades and all fermented liquors. The 
claim that the use of fermented liquors is a preven- 
tive of intemperance has its origin in sheer igno- 
rance. If this claim were true, then it would follow 
as a necessary consequence that there was no intem- 
perance previous to the discovery of the process of 
distillation. That this is not true, the merest tyro 
in history knows. England, Germany, and France 
were most grievously afflicted with intemperance 
long anterior to the manufacture of distilled liquors; 
and every one who has even the slightest familiarity 
with ancient history knows that this is true of all 
the great historic nations of antiquity, as well as of 
many wild, nomadic tribes. Babylon, Persia, Egypt, 
Greece, and Rome were all cursed with intemperance 
and all the hideous brood of woes that follow in its 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



193 



train many ages before distilled liquors were in ex- 
istence. And in France, Switzerland, and other 
countries where wine is now cheap and plentiful, in- 
temperance prevails to an extent that is appalling. 

I deem it proper just here to emphasize the fact 
that lager beer belongs in the same category with 
other alcoholic beverages. The claim sometimes 
made for it that its regular use in moderation is 
conducive to health is notoriously untrue. On this 
point I shall introduce the testimony of a man whose 
business gives him ample facilities for observing the 
effects of beer-drinking and makes it to his interest 
to do so. I refer to Col. Jacob L. Green, who at the 
time he wrote was President of the Connecticut 
Mutual Life Insurance Company. Colonel Green 
says: 

In one of our large cities containing a large population of 
beer drinkers I had occasion to note the deaths among a large 
group of persons whose habits, in their own eyes and in the 
eyes of their friends and physicians, were temperate ; but they 
wert habitual users of beer. When the observation began, 
they were upon the average something under middle age, and 
they were, of course, selected lives. Presently death began to 
strike them, and the mortality was astounding in extent and still 
more remarkable in the manifest identity of cause and mode. 

13 

\ 



194 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



The history was almost invariable: apparent robust health, 
full muscles, a fair outside, increasing weight, florid faces; 
then a touch of cold or a sniff of malaria, and instantly some 
acute disease was in violent action, and ten days or less ended 
it. It was as if the system had been kept fair outside, while 
within it was eaten to a shell. At the first touch of disease 
there was utter collapse ; every fiber was poisoned and weak. 
And this in its main features — varying, of course, in degree — 
has been my observation of beer-drinking everywhere. It is 
peculiarly deceptive at first and thoroughly destructive at last. 

Another authority says : 

In appearance the beer drinker may be the picture of health ; 
but in reality he is incapable of resisting disease. A slight 
injury or a severe cold or a shock to the mind or body will 
commonly provoke acute disease, ending fatally. Compared 
with inebriates who use other forms of alcohol, he is more 
incurable and more generally diseased. The constant use of 
beer steadily lowers the vital forces. It also produces the very 
lowest forms of inebriety, closely allied to criminal insanity. 
The most dangerous class of tramps and ruffians in our large 
cities are beer drinkers. 

The simple truth in regard to this matter is that 
all alcoholic liquors, whether malt, fermented, or 
distilled, are poisonous. Of course there is. not the 
same proportion of poison in all. It takes several 
glasses of wine or beer to contain as much alcohol 
as is contained in one glass of whisky or brandy ; 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 195 

but the poison is there, and it is for the poison that 
men partake of any of these drinks. 

Now, what is temperance as regards the use of 
any and all of these drinks? Temperance means 
moderation in the use of things that are proper to 
be used. It means total abstinence from things im- 
proper to be used. Now, since it is a demonstrated 
fact that alcohol is a poison, it follows that alcohol 
should be used just as other poisons are used. How 
do we use other poisons? Why, we use them as 
medicines. When a physician diagnoses a case and 
decides that the patient has a disease for which a 
certain poison is an antidote, then temperance allows 
the man to use that poison. But suppose a man 
should use this same poison when in perfect health. 
Would that be temperate? Suppose a man in per- 
fect health should use every day a small quantity of 
strychnine. Suppose some one admonishes him of 
the danger of so doing.^ Suppose he replies : "O, I 
do not use it to excess. I am exceedingly temperate 
in my use of it." Would he not at once be set down 
as a lunatic? How much wiser is the man who in 
perfect health uses alcohol ? 

It is just as certain that alcohol is a poison as 



196 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



that strychnine is a poison. For a healthy man to 
talk about using alcohol temperately is, therefore, the 
veiy height of absurdity. In sickness alcohol may 
be used just as other poisons are used — under the 
direction of a skillful physician. In health any use 
of alcohol is an intemperate use. 

Now, with all this overwhelming mass of evidence 
in favor of total abstinence, what plea can the ad- 
vocates of rum put in for a continuance of their tip- 
pling habits ? Well, here is a bloated, red-eyed, red- 
nosed, gouty septuagenarian, who calls out in sten- 
torian tones : "Look at me. I am a living refutation 
of your total abstinence doctrines. I have been 
drinking every day for fifty years ; and it has never 
hurt me, but prolonged my life." Well, as to its not 
hurting him, that is not true. It is evident that he 
is not half the man, either physically or mentally, 
that he would have been had he been an abstainer. 
But he is not dead. That is a fact. And because he 
has lived so long with his drinking habits, he argues 
that drink has prolonged his life. Is this sound 
reasoning? Let us see. 

I knew a man once who lived for twenty-four 
years with all his limbs utterly paralyzed. Does that 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 1 gy 

prove that paralysis is conducive to longevity? I 
knew another man who had pulmonary tuberculosis 
for more than forty years and who lived to be more 
than seventy years of age. Does that prove that tuber- 
culosis tends to lengthen the thread of human life ? 

Coleridge and De Quincey were great opium 
eaters, and yet they did a great deal of literary 
work. Does that prove that the opium habit is con- 
ducive to success in literary pursuits ? 

Every sane man knows how to answer these ques- 
tions. The consumptive and the paralytic lived, not 
on account of their diseased condition, but in spite 
of it; and they would have lived longer but for those 
diseases. Coleridge and De Quincey delved success- 
fully in the mines of literature, not because of the 
opium habit, but in spite of it; and but for that 
habit their diggings would have been more skillfully 
directed and their ores of more value to the world. 
Likewise our toper has lived through many years, 
not on account of his drinking habits, but in spite of 
them. With such a constitution, had he been an 
abstainer, he might have lived to be a hundred years 
old and been active and vigorous to the last. As it 
is, his sands of life have nearly run. 



198 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



Does such a case militate against total abstinence 
doctrines? Because God gave this man a constitu- 
tion capable of resisting the effects of poison daily 
administered for years, does it therefore follow that 
everybody is at liberty to swallow a daily allowance 
of the same poison ? Will any sane man stand spon- 
sor for such logic? The dictum of reason is that 
any use of alcohol by a person in perfect health is 
an intemperate use. 

Moreover, even in sickness alcohol is of far less 
service than was formerly supposed. The idea that 
alcohol is an antidote to all diseases, a panacea for 
all fleshly ills, has long since exploded. Well-in- 
formed physicians use it less and less as the years 
go by. 

And it should ever be borne in mind that a so- 
called temperate use of alcohol leads to an intemper- 
ate use. The use of alcohol creates a thirst for it 
that often becomes insatiable. It is doubtful if any 
man ever used alcohol for any considerable time 
without feeling a strong inclination to increase the 
quantity taken. Of all the drunkards now living 
or who have ever lived, it is doubtful if a single one 
ever intended from the beginning to become a drunk- 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



I 99 



arcL Their purpose was to be all through life mod- 
erate drinkers; but the drink habit began a drink 
thirst which completely enslaved them. Every man 
who drinks at all should, therefore, contemplate 
drunkenness as a possibility that yawns in his path- 
way. A habit that has enslaved multiplied millions 
of the bravest and strongest of men is surely a dan- 
gerous companion. The following incident, pub- 
lished in the New Orleans Picayune a few years 
ago, furnishes a forcible illustration of this point : 

Two young men walking down the street one evening in 
New Orleans saw a tramp looking with evident longing at the 
bottles in a saloon window. The young men were well- 
dressed, well-to-do young fellows about town, and one of them 
said to the other: "Come, let us give this tramp a drink." 
They invited him in, and as with trembling hand he poured 
his glass full of liquor one of the young men exclaimed: 
"Stop ! Make us a speech. It is a poor liquor that does not 
loosen a man's tongue." The poor wreck of a man, ragged 
and dirty, clutched the glass of liquor in his hand and, lifting 
it to his thirsty lips, gulped it down greedily. As the fiery 
liquor coursed through his veins he straightened himself and 
stood before them with a certain grace and dignity which all 
the marks of dissipation and all his rags and dirt could not 
obscure. Said he : "I look to-night at you and at myself, and 
it seems to me that I look upon the picture of my lost man- 
hood. This bloated face was once as young and handsome as 
yours. This shambling figure once walked as proudly as yours, 



200 



BIBLE TEMPERANCE. 



a man in the world of men. I once had a home and friends 
and position. I had a wife as beautiful as an artist's dream. 
I dropped the priceless pearl of her honor and respect in the 
wine cup, and, Cleopatra-like, I quaffed it down in the spar- 
kling draft. I had children as sweet and lovely as the flowers 
of spring, and I saw them fade and die under the blighting 
curse of a drunken father. I had a home where love lit the 
flame upon the altar and ministered before it; and I put out 
the holy fire, and darkness and desolation reigned in its stead. 
I had aspirations and ambitions that soared as high as the 
morning stars; and I broke and bruised their beautiful wings 
and at last strangled them, that I might be tortured with 
their cries no more. To-day I am a husband without a wife, 
a father without a child, a tramp with no home to call his 
own, a man in whom every good impulse is dead — and all 
swallowed up by the maelstrom of drink." The tramp ceased 
speaking. The glass fell from his nerveless fingers and shiv- 
ered into a thousand fragments on the floor. The swinging 
door pushed open and shut again, and when the little group 
about the saloon bar looked around the tramp was gone. 

What a crime thus to prostitute the noblest pow- 
ers of the soul and degrade manhood below the level 
of the brute creation ! 

My hearers, I call upon each of you, young and 
old, male and female, to walk in the footsteps of 
this youthful hero of the olden time, to swear before 
high heaven that you will forever abstain from the 
use of this vilest of all hell's agencies for the ruin 
of man. 



APPENDIX. 
A. 

The old homestead where I was born and reared 
was not, as many suppose, the place where Dr. Rob- 
ert Bridges now lives. That place became my moth- 
er's home after I had reached manhood's estate. 
The old home was about two miles from that in a 
northwesterly direction. The western boundary of 
my father's farm was within two miles of the spot 
where the town of Gallman now stands. The resi- 
dence on the old homestead was burned many years 
ago. The old plantation was divided years ago into 
a number of small farms. 

B. 

My eldest sister, Mary Elizabeth, became the wife 
of Richard Thomas Hennington, who emigrated 
soon after the Civil War to Brazil.. They are both 
dead. They have two grandchildren in Texas and 
others in Brazil. 

My next oldest sister, Rebecca Jane, married John 
Fletcher Enochs, of Copiah County, Miss., who for 

(201) 



202 



APPENDIX. 



many years lived five miles southeast of Crystal 
Springs, in the Bethesda neighborhood. Both have 
passed to their reward on high. They left eight sons 
— namely : I. C. Enochs and J. L. Enochs, of Jack- 
son, Miss. ; P. H. Enochs, F. B. Enochs, and T. E. 
Enochs, of Fernwood, Miss. ; E. A. Enochs, of Nat- 
chez, Miss.; and Dr. A. C. Enochs, of Oklahoma 
City, Okla. One son, William Edgar Enochs, died 
in 1896. The only daughter, Miss Eliza Enochs, 
resides m New Orleans. Their sons are widely 
known as successful Christian business men and phi- 
lanthropists. 

Margaret Columbia married Peter Charles Hive- 
ley. They are dead. They have two daughters, 
Delia and Ida, in the Far West. One son, Rev. 
George W. Hiveley, and three daughters, Mary, 
Dora, and Mrs. Alice Foote, are living near Utica, 
Miss, 

Amanda Permelia married Dr. Chauncy C. Mar- 
shall. They have passed away. They left several 
children, all of whom are grown and married except 
the youngest. One son, Bert Raiford Marshall, re- 
asides in Sykes, W. Va. The second son, Colby 
Earle Marshall, resides in New Orleans, La. Two 



APPENDIX. 



2P3 



daughters, Mrs. Ora Belle Edmiston and Emma 
Eloise Marshall, are at Fernwood, Miss. Mrs. Lil- 
lie Marshall Northrup resides at Eliska, Ala. 

Frances Pandora became Mrs. W. H. Baskett. 
She died while young and left no children. 

My brother, James Monroe, married Miss Sarah 
Cornelia Bishop, who lived about fifteen years. He 
afterwards married Mrs. Hattie H. Lott. He died 
March 13, 19 13. He left two sons, James Monroe 
Black, of Jackson, Miss., and Dameron Black, of 
Atlanta, Ga., and two daughters, Margaret and 
Mrs, May Heidelberg. His widow lives in Jackson, 
and so do his daughters. 

C. 

The original Bethesda church was a hewn log 
house with three doors and one window just behind 
the pulpit. It had no stove nor other heating appa- 
ratus. Not far away stood a small, rough, poorly 
lighted log cabin that was called Bethesda School- 
house. In that my young ideas were first taught 
how to shoot. In 1850 or 185 1 a frame church was 
built about half a mile from the old one ; and a few 
years later the school was provided with a frame 



204 



APPENDIX. 



building sufficiently large, having several windows 
with glass in them, and also a stove. In 1862 the 
present church and school buildings were erected, 
about two miles east of the old site. 



&.1 



